Til Death Do Us Part
by Wicked Swann
Summary: Sookie's wedding to Bill is interrupted by murder and magic. Sam and Eric have to deal with the consequences as Eric's mate disappears and Sam & Lafayette swap personalities. Third in series.
1. Chapter 1

In retrospect, Sam Merlotte knew it had been a bad idea to hire Laney Birmingham. To her credit, she did have extensive waitressing skills, based on the number of restaurants and bars she claimed to have worked in. She was also cute and petite, with curly black hair, brown eyes, and a figure that brought to mind red lights and cheap motel rooms. Laney couldn't walk through Merlotte's without someone making a comment or pinching her rear end.

Sam's wife, Anne Marie, had hated Laney on sight. Even Sookie Stackhouse had trouble being civil to her, and Sam knew it had less to do with her buxom figure than with her wicked tongue. Laney seemed to come on to every man who passed through the door of the bar -- human, vampire or shifter. In fact, Sam had thought, if she didn't keep her round butt out of Bill Compton's and Eric Northman's lap, she might wind up with a black eye or worse.

Turned out, it was worse.

The night of Bill and Sookie's wedding had been unseasonably hot. Sam pulled at the collar of his shirt, wishing he could loosen his tie, but he was part of the wedding party and had to be in the photos. Sookie's oldest friend Tara was the maid of honor, with Pam, Anne Marie, and Peggy serving as bridesmaids. Bill had three groomsmen – Sam, Eric, and Lafayette. Sookie's brother Jason was the best man, much to Eric's obvious annoyance.

The wedding was being held at Bon Temps' one church, presided over by the very nervous Father O'Reilly, who had never before conducted a wedding in which one of the participants was a vampire. All the windows had been thrown open to keep down the heat, but Sam still found it stifling. The small, white church was filled with flowers, mostly some sort of orchids, Sam thought. The scent of them was cloying, clogging the air. A bead of sweat rolled down from Sam's forehead and made his chin itch. He fought the urge to scratch it as Sookie walked down the aisle.

She looked beautiful, Sam had to admit. It had been years since he had felt more than friendship for her, but he couldn't deny that she was a vision in white. Sookie wore her Gran's wedding dress, which had been painfully preserved and looked brand new. Sam felt a pang as he wished that Adele could have been there.

He glanced over at Anne Marie as Sookie reached the end of the aisle and joined hands with Bill, and the preacher began a long, trembly speech. The bridesmaids' dresses were pink and fluffy, but Sam barely noticed the dress compared to his wife's beauty, aside from noting that it was a bit more low cut in the front than he would have thought Sookie might pick. Anne Marie's vibrant red hair curled around her cute face, perfectly complimenting her green eyes and freckled nose. There was a tilt to her red lips that suggested she might smile at any moment, and those green eyes were bright with emotion.

Damn, he had never loved a woman this deeply before. Nor would he ever, again. Sam had everything he had ever wanted in Anne Marie. His life was perfect.

Anne Marie glanced over and glared at Sam. All right, it was almost perfect… but surely Anne Marie would forgive him. It wasn't his fault that Laney kept flirting with him, and when he'd gotten her the job of watching the small children at the wedding, it had been for no other reason than that he knew she needed the money, and that almost everyone else in Bon Temps, invited or not, had planned on coming to the church. After all, this was Bon Temps' first vampire wedding.

Sam bet it wouldn't be the last. Though Eric ran a vampire bar in Shreveport, he and Peggy were residents of Bon Temps. It was hard to think of Peggy as a vampire, though she had been one for over two years now, Sam realized. He wondered if she wanted to marry Eric. After all, she hadn't been dead very long. She might still have the hopes and dreams of a human woman. She and Eric seemed to have a monogamous relationship… not that this made Sam like Eric any better than he ever had.

Right now, Eric looked only moderately amused by the proceedings. At least he didn't looked bored, like Pam did. To be fair, Lafayette didn't look much less bored, and even Jason glanced at his watch as the preacher droned on and on. The Merlotte's cook ran his hands down the length of his jacket. Like Sam's, Eric's, and Jason's, it was black and fitted and flattering, but it sure as hell wasn't Lafayette's personal style. To make up for it, Sam saw he'd added a touch of gold eye shadow and a hint of lipstick.

"…and do you, Sookie Stackhouse, take William Compton as your lawfully wedded husband?"

Sam tuned back in, suddenly realizing that he was missing the vows.

"I do," said Sookie, smiling blissfully at Bill.

"Then," said Father O'Reilly, "By the power invested in me—"

The preacher's words were cut off by a happy shriek that Sam recognized immediately. Despite the glee in the tone, a warning light went off in his head. Anne Marie's eyes met his and he knew she had gotten the same message.

"Belle!" Sam's wife gasped.

A little girl in a pale pink dress came running down the aisle. She had curly red-gold hair, big blue eyes, and a mischievous smile on her face. Her two chubby little arms were stretched out in front of her, and her hands were dripping red. It was that red that caused Sam's mild alarm at the giddy shriek to escalate into full-blown fear. He seemed frozen as the toddler ran past her mother and threw herself at Sookie, clutching on to the skirt of the white wedding gown, smearing it with small handprints.

All four vampires in the wedding party, and the others scattered through the church who were guests of Bill's (or possibly of Eric's – Sam wasn't sure…) stiffened, and Sam knew his fear was not unfounded. Anne Marie bent and picked up their daughter, examining her hands and trying to tell if the blood they were covered in was her own.

"Oh my sweet Jesus," said Tara.

"—I now pronounce you vampire and wife!" the preacher snapped, but no one was paying attention to him now.

"Who suppose to be watchin' that child?" Lafayette demanded.

"Laney Birmingham," said Sam automatically, helping Anne Marie check over their daughter.

"Is Belle all right?" Peggy murmured. Sam saw a hint of fang in her mouth, and knew she was trying to fight her reaction to the blood. The older vampires didn't have this problem, he was relieved to note.

"I tink she fine," Anne Marie said. Her Cajun accent grew more pronounced, reflecting how upset she was. "But Laney Birmingham ain't gone be when I see her, me."

"Laney?" said Jason. "You mean the new waitress with the hot ass?"

"Jason!"

"Sorry, Sookie," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe one of y'all ought to go and check on her," Lafayette suggested pragmatically.

"I'll go," said Peggy. She turned and hurried down the aisle. They all stood there stunned for a few minutes, Anne Marie hugging Belle to her chest. The baby laughed and giggled and kissed her mother. The blood on his daughter's hands made Sam's stomach turn, and he accepted a handkerchief from Eric to wipe them clean.

"You may kiss the bride!" the preacher suggested to Bill after an awkward moment.

Bill looked at Sookie. "Ahem…"

"Sam," said Sookie. "Can you go check on Laney?"

"But Peggy just—" Sam cut himself off. "Yes, all right."

"Lafayette, go with him," Sookie added as Sam started after Peggy.

"Girl, you plumb crazy if you think I—"

"Lafayette, just go!" snapped Tara.

Lafayette followed Sam, and behind them he heard Eric arguing with Bill.

"I can go after Margaret," said the Viking.

"It's not a good idea," Bill hissed.

"Then Pam—"

"No, Eric, just stay here."

Sam and Lafayette reached the church's small nursery together. A few other toddlers and babies were gathered here, and most of them were crying now. There was no sign of Peggy, but Laney was easily found. She lay dead in the middle of the room with her throat torn out. Lafayette uttered a choice expletive.

A feminine laugh echoed through the room. Turning, Sam looked for the source of the sound, and Lafayette turned as well. In the hall behind them stood a young woman who Sam had never seen before. She was a little taller than Sam and had hair that was slightly pink in color.

"Now who the hell are you?" Lafayette asked.

The young woman grinned and lifted her hand. She turned it upward and flat just in front of her mouth, took a deep breath, and blew. A glittery cloud rose up from her palm, engulfing Sam and Lafayette.

Sam heard her muttering some words in what might have been Latin, or some other ancient language.

Then darkness overtook him, and he knew nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days earlier, Peggy had been entertaining Sookie and Anne Marie in her kitchen. Anne Marie had made a strawberry pie and Peggy had duly heated it and made coffee for her friends, though she could only enjoy the scent of the dessert. She'd popped open a True Blood to sip while her friends ate, pouring it into a coffee cup so she could at least pretend…

Not that she minded being a vampire. She'd even gotten used to the bottled blood. It was sustenance. No more.

"Do you really like those?" Sookie asked, trying to sound polite. Peggy wondered if she'd asked Bill the same question.

"It's palatable," Peggy said.

"Girl, you really never drunk from a person, you?" Anne Marie asked.

"You know I haven't…" Peggy said.

"And Eric hasn't either, since you became a vampire?"

"Since before that," Peggy said. When she had been human, Eric had been drinking exclusively from her.

"Hard to believe," said Anne Marie, shaking her head. Baby Belle sat in a high chair at the end of the table, happily playing with blocks. She was a quiet child, calm and pretty.

"I know!" said Sookie. "I wonder sometimes if Bill wants to… drink from other humans."

"Surely not," Peggy said automatically.

"No, not him," Anne Marie agreed.

Peggy wondered often if Eric was missing fresh blood. He had offered to teach her to hunt when she had first been made. So had her maker, Christopher Santiago, who lived in New Orleans. The two had argued about it so fiercely that Peggy had given up and sworn she would only drink True Blood.

Some vampire I am, she thought.

The only person she had ever sunk her fangs into was Eric. She didn't know if that counted, because that was more like sex than anything else. She loved it, though. The flavor of him didn't satisfy her body's hunger, but it fulfilled her in many other ways. And now…even now, when she had begun to feel very…far away…from Eric, they still enjoyed a phenomenal sex life.

"I am afraid I'm not enough for Eric," she confessed to her friends. They protested, as expected, and she loved them for it. "He has been so busy lately… he stays at Fangtasia all night…"

"Can't you go with him?" Sookie asked.

"Usually I do, but…"  
"You get bored?" asked Anne Marie.

Peggy nodded. "It's only been two years. I thought we would spend eternity together, but lately, I just don't know."

"You can always leave for a bit," said Anne Marie. "Go spend some time in New Orleans."

"Maybe."

Anne Marie paused for a long moment, as if she didn't quite know how to say what she wanted to say, but then went ahead. "You hear from Santiago lately?"

"No…I haven't spoken to Christopher in several months," said Peggy.

"What's wrong, Anne Marie?" asked Sookie.

"I ain't heard from my brother Simone in a bit," Anne Marie confessed. "Him phone turned off."

Peggy felt a chill go up her spine. "I will call Christopher and ask him, though he's hard to get a hold of since his club burned down."

Christopher had been the proprietor of a drag club in the French Quarter called Bloody Mary's. Six months previously, there had been a fire. While the building had survived and there had miraculously been no deaths, the club had been gutted and gone out of business.

"Thank you," said Anne Marie.

The baby let out a gleeful squawk and banged one of her blocks on the tray of the highchair, distracting all three women. Anne Marie chuckled and fluffed Belle's red-gold curls, then tickled one of her round cheeks. The baby squealed with delight.

"She's so beautiful," said Sookie wistfully.

"Thank you," Anne Marie beamed proudly.

"Does it make you sad that you can't have any, Peggy?" Sookie asked. Peggy was glad she was used to Sookie's lack of tact.

"I never wanted one," she said simply.

"You won't be having any either, Sookie, if you insist on marrying Bill," said Eric, smirking slightly as he entered the kitchen. He was carrying the mail in his hand and Peggy frowned at him as he sat down at the table with them. Belle shrieked again, and Eric bared his fangs at her. The baby clapped her hands and laughed. Sighing, Eric shook his head and started sorting the mail.

"Eric!" said Peggy. "Why do you have to be so rude to my friends?"

"We're used to it," Sookie said.

"Why are you two always here?" Eric asked Anne Marie and Sookie. "It's like Margaret and I can never have a moment of privacy." He looked at Anne Marie. "And you never let me taste that baby."

"You touch my baby, and I put a stake through your ice cold heart, Eric Northman," Anne Marie growled.

"He's just teasing!" Peggy said hastily.

"Yes, yes, just kidding," Eric said, rolling his eyes. "Probably taste like dog anyway."

"Belle ain' gone be no dog – she gone be a cat, like her mama," Anne Marie insisted.

"But Sam said—" Sookie started, but then she cut herself off. "I'm sure she'll be able to do both."

Shaking her head, Peggy got up and pulled a True Blood out of the fridge. She microwaved it for Eric, then poured it into an elegant crystal goblet. He accepted it without looking at her and sipped it as he read the mail. Peggy sighed inwardly.

"Anything interesting?"

"The usual bills…" Eric sighed, dropping the letters on the table and folding his hands under his chin. "So did I miss all the girl talk?"

"I think it time for me to get Belle home," Anne Marie said, rising to her feet and scooping up the baby. "S'late."

"I was supposed to meet Bill half an hour ago," said Sookie regretfully. "I'll see you at Merlotte's tomorrow, Anne Marie."

"You really workin' tomorrow? Wid you weddin' happening in tree days?" Anne Marie settled Belle onto her hip while she scooped up the blocks into her baby bag.

"I'll need the money more than ever," Sookie said.

"Bill has plenty of money, Sookie," said Eric. "He can take care of you."

"Well, maybe I want to take care of him," Sookie said, smiling crookedly. "Good night, Peggy."

Peggy bid her friends a good night and escorted them out, then drifted back to the kitchen where Eric was still toying with the mail. She looked at him for a long moment. She tried to access how he had changed in the time she had known him. He had been so dangerous when he had first possessed her. She had belonged to his maker, Godric, and when Godric had given up his own life, he had left Peggy to Eric. They had started off rocky, but eventually they had genuinely fallen in love.

What had happened to that love? Had it died because she was now vampire? Or just changed…mellowed…

"Eric?"

"Yes, darling?"

"Are you going to Fangtasia tonight?"

"Pam is expecting me."

"Ah. Well, I suppose she is."

They both paused somewhat awkwardly, then Eric moved around the table and drew her into his arms, up against him. Peggy slipped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. She no longer needed to breathe but she took a deep breath just to draw the scent of him into her.

"Come with me," Eric whispered. His tongue darted out and licked at her ear.

"I don't know…"

"Fangtasia bores you."

"Sometimes."

"It bores Pam, too. But it is all of our livelihood."

"I know, Eric."

"Margaret…"

Peggy lifted her head and looked into his blue eyes. "Yes?"

"Kiss me." And Eric kissed her, before she could agree or not. His mouth plundered hers and she submitted to him eagerly, willingly. She loved him so much… but she didn't say it out loud.

"Stay home tonight," she begged him.

Slowly Eric let her go. "I can't," he said.

And then he was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam came back into himself in the parking lot of Merlotte's. The sun was just setting and the lot was full, indicating that he was doing a good business. His head seemed really fuzzy, and he was having a hard time remembering much of anything. A large black Labrador retriever bounded up to him and barked playfully.

"Well, hey there, boy," said Sam, scratching the dog's ears. The dog barked again and for some reason, the bark seemed like laughter. But that was silly, Sam told himself. Dogs couldn't laugh. He grinned at the thought and strutted across the parking lot to the back door as the dog trotted along next to him. As he got to the back door, it turned and ran behind the building.

Sam let himself in and took a deep breath. He could smell the grill sizzling, could hear people talking and glasses clinking. There was a hint of spice in the air and he licked his lips. Anne Marie must be cooking. Damn, that woman could spice a gumbo, Sam thought.

He stopped in front of a mirror near the restrooms and smiled. He ran a hand over his red-blond hair, smoothing it down, and stroked his face. It was freshly shaved.

"Smooth as a baby's bottom, girlfriend," he told the mirror.

It was still unseasonably hot, so he'd taken a pair of his jeans and cut them very short. This pair seemed very tight fitting, but it showed off his ass nicely, he decided, turning to the side in front of the mirror. He also had on a pink tank top that he couldn't remember buying, but it was certainly comfortable and showed off his chest. Not as muscular as he'd have liked. Well, maybe he'd start lifting weights.

Still, Sam felt that he looked good, and there wasn't much of anything more important than looking good. He slipped behind the bar to relieve Tara, who had turned to stare at him with her mouth wide open.

"Sam, what the hell are you wearing?" she demanded after a shocked moment.

"This ol' thang?" Sam said, smoothing his hands down the tank and fluttering his eyelashes at Tara. "Just showing off what I got!"

"Really, Sam, I do not think booty shorts is appropriate attire for a family restaurant," said Lafayette from behind him.

"You wore booty shorts in here last week," Tara said.

Sam turned around to face Lafayette. Funny how he'd never noticed how handsome the black man was before. What a physique he had. Mmm! He grinned playfully.

"Well surely you don't expect me to dress like you," Sam said, running a hand down Lafayette's flannel covered chest. "Plaid is for Scotsmen, baby. Though I could see you in a kilt! But belt buckles that size went out of style in the eighties."

"What the hell are YOU wearing?" Tara demanded of her cousin.

"You two know I do not give a damn about style," said Lafayette.

"Since when?" Tara demanded.

"A little style might do you a world of good," said Sam.

"Are those your wife's jeans?" Tara demanded, looking at Sam's barely-covered butt.

"My wife? Tara, have you been drinking?" Sam asked. "Ooh, and doesn't that sound like a good idea?" He picked up a coffee mug and filled it with tequila. Sam was starting to realize that everyone in the restaurant was staring at them, but he was used to stares.

"ANNE MARIE!" Tara hollered.

"Gumbo almos' ready!" Anne Marie hollered back.

"No, girl, you got to get out here!"

Sam ignored them all and stared around Merlotte's. He really needed to redecorate. Animals hanging over the bar? Whose lame idea was that?

"This place needs a disco ball," he said.

Anne Marie came out of the kitchen, and when she saw Sam, her mouth dropped open even wider than Tara's had. She marched around the bar, glaring at him.

"Well, hello to you, too, sweetness," Lafayette said as she ignored him completely.

"What you done to my favorite jeans?" Anne Marie asked, her eyes round. "And why you wearing my tank top? Sam—"

Sam felt genuine confusion. "Why would you care what I wear?"

"Because you look like you trollin' for boys on the de wrong side of town, for one ting," said Anne Marie. "And 'nother, you my husban'!"

Sam frowned. "Anne Marie, I thought you knew I was gay," he said helplessly.

"And I thought you knew that I'm your husband," said Lafayette, sounding vaguely annoyed. Sam looked at him and thought about it. That sounded right. He nodded.

"What kind of fucked-up game are you two playing?" Tara demanded.

Before Sam could ask her the same question, the door to the bar slammed open so hard that it nearly flew off of its hinges. Eric Northman stepped inside, his gorgeous face a mask of fury. Funny how Sam had never noticed how gorgeous the Viking vampire was before. So tall, so hard, what a body. Even as conservatively dressed as he was, in black jeans and a red Fangtasia t-shirt, Eric was a show stopper. Sam had heard that lots of vampires were bisexual and wondered if that were true of Eric. Surely that bitch Peggy could share…just a little.

Eric flowed across the room to the bar, hardly seeming to walk, and Merlotte's patrons scurried to get out of his way. Behind him, on high heels that Sam felt a lust for akin to what he felt for Eric, came his bored-looking assistant, Pam. Eric came directly to Sam and glared at him, causing Sam's pulse to race a little.

"Where is Margaret?" he asked, his voice quiet but barely restrained.

"How would I know?" Sam asked, bewildered.

"Because you and your wife are her friends. Sookie and Bill have left for New Orleans on their honeymoon, so that leaves you two. Where is she?"

"I don't have a—" Sam started, but Lafayette cut him off.

"Anne Marie and I are not hiding your girlfriend," he said, putting an arm around the red-haired Cajun woman. "But if we were, we certainly wouldn't tell you. We have far too much respect for Peggy."

Eric opened his mouth to speak again, but suddenly he joined the group of confused people as he looked from Sam to Lafayette and back. "Did you two switch personalities?"

Pam smiled slowly, looking suddenly much less bored.

"That's ridiculous," said Sam.

Eric smiled at him seductively, and Sam felt his insides melt. "Ever been with a vampire, Sam?"

"I might be willing to give it a try," Sam said, flirting back. But suddenly something inside Eric's gaze caught him and pulled him in.

"Sam," Eric's voice was rich and tantalizing. "Do you know where Margaret is?"

"The last time I saw her was at the wedding, when she went to go check on Laney Birmingham," Sam said. "After that, no one could find her. You said she thought she might have gone home."

"She didn't go home," Sam heard Pam drawl.

"Did something happen to you at the wedding, Sam?" Eric asked, and again Sam felt compelled to answer.

"Dis can't be happen," said Anne Marie. "Vampires can't glamour… some us…"

"Well, apparently they can glamour Sam," said Tara.

Lafayette squeezed Anne Marie. "Just not our kind, sweetness," he told her softly, and Sam wondered what kind was that. Sam heard Tara ask that same question, but he, himself had to answer Eric.

"There was a woman with pink hair. She blew some sort of glitter in mine and Lafayette's faces," Sam heard himself say.

Lafayette frowned. "This is one crazy queen," he said. "I do not remember any such thing happening."

"They really have traded personalities," said Pam, trying not to laugh.

"Can you fix dem?" Anne Marie demanded of Eric.

"No," said Eric. He tore his gaze away from Sam's, breaking the spell of the glamour. Sam shook his head.

"That was intense," he said, then smiled flirtatiously at Eric. "I bet you could make me do… anything."

Eric gave him a frustrated look. "All I want to make you do is find Margaret," he said, his voice resonating in Sam's head again.

Sam nodded. Find Margaret. Uh, Peggy. If that was what the golden god wanted, then he would do it. But where to start?


	4. Chapter 4

As Peggy ran into the Bon Temps church nursery to check on Laney Birmingham, she had a feeling that the slutty—uh, poor young woman had already met a bad end. The scent of blood hung heavily in the air, and no one needed to tell her that a murder at a vampire wedding spelled bad news for human-vampire relations.

Peggy paused in the door of the nursery, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as her suspicions were confirmed. Laney lay in the middle of the floor, her throat demolished, a little pool of blood surrounding her head like a halo, her eyes wide and staring. Half a dozen little children filled the room, and she could tell from their faces that they were all about to start crying.

Peggy's stomach growled. When had she last had a True Blood? As a new vampire of less than three years, she was drinking eight to ten bottles a night – about the same amount found in an average human body. Eric got by on half a bottle, though she knew he missed feeding from live donors. She also knew that fact was part of what was starting to drive a wedge between them.

Before she knew what she was doing, she had knelt on the rug, previously cheerfully pink and blue striped and now stained crimson, next to Laney. Damn, but the blood smelled so good, so sweet, so tempting. Eric wouldn't mind. He would encourage her. He would want her to have a little taste. It wasn't as if Peggy had killed her, anyway. Not that she would have minded doing so. Of everyone she knew who deserved to be dead, Laney Birmingham had been high on the list. When they found out who had killed her, Peggy would send them a nice gift and a thank-you note.

"Go ahead," came a voice from the doorway. "Help yourself."

Peggy's head snapped back and she shot to her feet. Her fangs, protruding slightly already, snicked all the way out as she growled defensively at the unknown woman in the doorway. She had pale pink hair and eyes that seemed almost colorless, was of a medium height, and something about her wasn't quite human.

"What are you?" Peggy demanded.

"A friend," the woman said. She swirled her hand in the air and Peggy felt compelled to watch her fingers. Her legs felt heavy. She couldn't move them.

"No… not a friend," she said. "What ARE you?"

"Maybe you will find out, maybe you won't," said the woman, and then Peggy couldn't move at all. The woman started circling her, walking around her. "You're young. It's too easy."

She pinched Peggy's behind, and Peggy would have jumped but she was completely frozen. She hissed. It was the only noise she could make. Suddenly she wished she could cry out for Eric. She called out with her mind, but the appeal for help seemed only to bounce around in her skull and she knew right away that whatever this woman was doing had isolated her from her lover. She could only hope that when she didn't come back, he would come after her. The pink haired woman stopped in front of her and looked into her eyes.

"I don't think I will destroy you just yet. You may still be of use to me," she said thoughtfully. "In fact, you can be the bait, little fishie, for what I really want to catch."

Peggy heard voices in the hall and knew that someone else was coming. It was Sam and Lafayette. Oh, no – why couldn't it have been Eric or Pam, someone who might be strong enough to fight this… whatever she was? Smirking, the woman twirled her hand over Peggy's head. Peggy saw a flash of glitter, then everything went black. She felt like she was falling down a long tunnel, but she still couldn't move, couldn't speak.

"Now who the hell are you?" she heard Lafayette say. The only reply he got was laughter and mumbled words in a language that Peggy hadn't heard before.

Suddenly she felt herself smash into what could only be a concrete wall. The impact shook her body and she felt like every bone inside her had snapped. She screamed, and knew her voice had returned, along with a world of pain. She tried to move, but she still couldn't, probably because of the broken bones. With every ounce of her being she screamed out for Eric.

He didn't come.

She tried to guess where she was, but it was pitch dark. There was a dank smell that was somehow familiar. When the pain dulled slightly, she knew it was the smell of old death. She was reminded of the night she awoke as a vampire in an old above-ground crypt in New Orleans. Could she be… in New Orleans? How was that possible? But Peggy knew that in Bon Temps and Northern Louisiana corpses were put right into the ground as the water table wasn't as high.

After a few minutes, she was able to pull herself into a better position. She could feel that her bones were trying to heal, but she also knew that she needed blood badly. Without it, she could lie here, wherever here was, in pain for months or even years. The bones would slowly heal, but she would become so starved that the hunger would drive her to madness.

She wanted to cry, but that would waste precious fluids.

Would Eric ever know what happened to her? Could he hear her now? Or was she still under the influence of whatever the pink-haired woman had done to her?

She and Eric had been blond-bonded since the night she had awoken as a vampire. They had given themselves fully to each other, and always had an awareness of each other. They often shared emotions. Their love had not waned, she told herself. The heat of new romance had just… cooled a bit. He was busy with work, and though she spent most nights at Fangtasia, the bar bored her. She ought to start her own business – not because she needed the money, because Godric had left her a fortune, but to amuse herself. She didn't even have the hunt to keep her occupied.

For the first time since Godric's old friend Christopher had made her a vampire and broken her original blood blond with Eric, she felt completely apart from him. She had to draw him back! Otherwise, she would suffer in this tomb forever. Feverishly she remembered her early days as a vampire…

"You taste different," Eric had said, licking her blood from his lips after they finished making love.

Peggy didn't know quite how to reply. He tasted the same to her… but she was the one who had changed, not him. "I suppose it's because I'm a vampire now."

Eric nodded. "Christopher's blood is in your veins now. I can no longer taste Godric in you."

When she had belonged to Godric, she had shared a similar bond to the one she had made with Eric after his maker had gone into the sun.

"Maybe after I drink enough of your blood, it will come back?" she asked. "His blood is yours, too."

"Maybe," Eric said.

They both knew that it wasn't completely true. Eric's blood was definitely reminiscent to Godric's in flavor, but there was his own stamp as well. Peggy loved it, the wild, ancient heart of him that she had tasted in his blood. And now in hers, he felt the unwanted presence of a vampire who was her friend, but something of an annoyance to Eric.

At least Christopher had set her free of him. His progeny were not bonded to him the way most were to their makers, he had told her. The thread of magic between them from their shared blood was thin. They had an awareness of each other, but no more than that.

But maybe if Eric couldn't sense her now, couldn't find her and rescue her, Christopher could…

Peggy tried to reach out for him, desperate for help. There was only a stone and glass wall and empty flashes of red pain. The dusty silence of the crypt. The cemetery outside contained only the normal sounds of the night. No help on the way. No soul around.

No Eric.

No Christopher.

No reply.

No help.

No savior.

Her only other choice was to break out of the crypt and find blood. Any blood. She would probably have to kill. Right now, to stop the pain, she was more than willing to do it. But the truth was, she could barely move. She forced herself to try again, but earned only another wave of pain.

She was going to kill that pink-haired bitch if she ever got out of this, ever got her strength back…

All right, Peggy realized the absurdity of that thought, since she knew nothing about the woman, but she couldn't help her anger. And hadn't she said something about using Peggy for bait? What if she wanted to hurt Eric? For the first time since Godric had gone into the sun, Peggy wished she could die, if only to save her lover, never mind to leave all this pain behind.

Mercifully, she blacked out after a while. Or maybe the sun just rose outside. The next time she awoke, Peggy realized two things. Her pain had lessened and her body had healed to some degree. There was a sweet wave of relief in that, and as she tried to sit up, she found that she could, if somewhat gingerly.

Followed by the relief of lessened pain came a wave of hunger stronger than she had felt since the night she had been made – a night when she had also wakened in a tomb like this.

Then she realized that someone was opening the crypt.

The someone was a human.

The someone was about to be dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam brushed past Anne Marie and Lafayette and headed out into Merlotte's parking lot. The only thought in his fuzzy mind was that he needed to go find Margaret. Er, Peggy. He headed for his truck, but then realized it was still broken-down. He'd been meaning to fix it, but had been so busy lately getting ready for Sookie's wedding.

The details surrounding that wedding were also fuzzy, but none of that was important right now. What mattered was following Eric's orders. Sam was going to have to steal a car. He looked around the parking lot and spotted a red corvette. Fast, low, and easy to break into. Plus Sam would look really, really hot behind the wheel.

It was a done deal. Sam grabbed some tools from inside his truck and made his way over to the 'vette, glancing furtively around the parking lot as he did. He found what he needed in the tool box and began tinkering with the window.

"Sweet ride, isn't it?" came a low voice next to Sam's ear. He shuddered and dropped the tool, then turned to look into Eric Northman's inhuman blue eyes. An immediate sense of pleasure filled Sam.

"I could drown in your eyes," he said.

"You could also drown in the bayou behind your trailer," Eric said calmly. "Or I could rip your throat out for messing around with my car."

"I need it to go find Peggy," Sam said.

Eric's blue eyes widened first, seeming hopeful, then narrowed. "Where is she?"

"New Orleans," Sam heard himself say, but then he frowned.

"Where in New Orleans?" Eric demanded.

"Not sure… just know I have to go to New Orleans," Sam said.

"Did she tell you she was going there?" Eric asked, drawing Sam in again. Sam felt compelled to tell the truth, whether he wanted to or not.

"No."

"Then how do you know that?"

"I'm not sure. I just… I have to go to New Orleans."

Eric growled softly. Then he straightened up and handed Sam the keys to the corvette. "For every scratch you get in the paint, I will leave a scar on your body," he said. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Sam breathed, grinning as he took the keys to the pristine red car.

"Are you sure?" Eric's fangs snapped out, and Sam found himself both aroused and terrified. Barely aware of what he was doing, Sam inclined his head slightly to the left, exposing his throat.

In a flash Eric's lips were hovering over Sam's neck. Sam closed his eyes, feeling the cool whisper of Eric's mouth, just an atom away from his skin. A sweat broke out on his forehead as he waited for the vampire to bite him.

"Please," he muttered.

Eric lifted his head, straightened up. "Please yes, or please no?"

"What?" Sam was confused. "Damn, you're tall." He lifted his head to stare up at the Viking.

"You said please. Please bite me, or please don't bite me?"

"Bite you?"

"No…no… do you want me to bite you?"

Sam frowned and thought about it. Then he smiled. "Well," he said, "I sure would like to have your mouth on me, vampire."

Eric's expression was a combination of amusement and disgust. "You really aren't my type."

"How do you know until you've tried me?" Sam flirted boldly.

Eric seemed to consider this, but before he could reply, the black dog Sam had seen earlier came bounding out from behind Merlotte's, barking loudly. It wedged itself between Sam and Eric and growled loudly, baring its teeth.

"Maybe you had better go," Eric said.

Sam nodded, backing slowly away from the dog. He unlocked the corvette and opened the door, but before he could slip behind the wheel, the dog turned and jumped into the car, settling itself into the passenger seat. Eric looked mortified.

"Maybe I'll take him with me," Sam said, picking up his tool box and getting into the car.

"I'll never get the smell out," Eric said.

Sam closed the door and put on his seatbelt. He looked at the dog with trepidation, but it was calm and friendly-looking now. It barked and nudged the passenger seatbelt with its nose. Chuckling, Sam buckled him in. He threw the car into gear and blew out of the parking lot, spraying gravel as he went. In the rearview mirror, he saw Eric standing there, looking dismayed.

Fiddling around with the CD player, Sam found a welcome surprise. "ABBA Gold!" he exclaimed delightedly, and as they hit route 167 headed south towards New Orleans, Sam opened up the windows, turned up the sound system, and sang along loudly to "Dancing Queen."

It wasn't a long drive to New Orleans, but it was long enough to be tedious. After listening to the ABBA CD through several times, Sam searched Eric's music collection for a replacement. The vampire's taste in music had much to be desired, from what Sam could discern. After a few minutes he gave up and turned on the radio but all he could pick up was a Christian rock station. Back to hunting through the CDs.

Finally Sam put in a disc that turned out to be a low chanting in a language that sounded vaguely Swedish. It wasn't exactly danceable, but it was better than anything else in the car, ABBA aside. Sam tried to hum along, but the music was too unpredictable, so after a while he just listened quietly. The road was long…dark…deserted…

"SAM!" a voice yelled in his ear as the car swerved all over the road. A hand reached out and grabbed the wheel, straightening it, and Sam woke up with a start. He'd fallen asleep while driving and nearly totaled Eric's corvette. He wasn't sure what startled him more, being jerked awake to that realization or the fact that it was Lafayette holding the wheel and that he was sitting next to Sam completely naked.

The car swerved again and Lafayette hollered Sam's name for a second time. His heart racing like a worn out racetrack nag, Sam pulled the car over to the side of the road, put it in park, and stared.

"Where in hell did you come from? And where's the dog?" Sam demanded.

Lafayette looked at Sam gravely. Finally he sighed. "Sam, my eyes are up here," he said, putting one hand in his lap and unsuccessfully covering what was now distracting Sam.

"Sorry," Sam grinned. "You got a lot to be proud of."

Lafayette frowned. "Thank you," he said in a reserved tone. "Sam, I have to tell you something, and you can't tell nobody else."

"You're gay?" Sam asked hopefully.

"No, Sam Merlotte, I am NOT gay. I am happily married, though Anne Marie seems to be put out with me right now for some reason," Lafayette said, shaking his head. "Sam, listen to me. I am the dog. I'm a shape shifter."

Sam thought he had never heard anything so ridiculous in his life, and he must have looked doubtful because Lafayette sighed.

"Look, I'll prove it to you—but you can't freak out, Sam." And suddenly Lafayette became the black Labrador.

"Lafayette?" Sam gasped, his mouth hanging open. "You… you really…"

Lafayette returned to his human form, still distractingly naked. "I didn't want tell you this way, Sam, but I had to come with you to New Orleans."

"Why?" Sam demanded. "I mean, I barely knew that's where I was going, how did you know and how did you know to come with me?"

Lafayette shook his head. "Don't know. Just knew I had to go, too."

"And… you're a shape shifter."

"We haven't come out of the closet the way that vampires have."

"Does Anne Marie know this?" Sam demanded.

Lafayette nodded. "Yes, Sam. I would never have married her without telling her."

"And she's…okay with that?"

"Are you okay with it, Sam?"

Sam nodded. "I guess so. I've known you a long time and you've always been decent to me, even though I'm gay. It would be wrong of me not to return the favor."

Lafayette grinned. "I'm glad to hear it, my brother."

"I don't think I can drive with you naked, though."

"I can turn back to dog."

Sam looked wistful. "Truth is, I'd enjoy the company. Just…keep your hands over your lap, or I'll go off the road again."

Lafayette chuckled. "All right, man."

Not too much later, they were in New Orleans. Sam followed his instincts, because when he thought too much about where he had to go, his head felt fuzzy and achy. It was after midnight, and they were in the Garden District. The car prowled slowly through the oak-lined streets, past the big, dark mansions of the wealthy. Sam turned left on First Avenue, right on Chestnut… right again on Washington Avenue.

"That be Lafayette Cemetery," said Lafayette. "I was conceived there. Why my mama named me Lafayette."

"We have to go there," Sam said. He parked by the front gate. "Grab my tool box and come on." Sam got out of the cart and stretched his legs.  
"I never did like grave-robbing, Sam," said Lafayette, but a moment later a big black dog was trotting next to Sam with the box clenched firmly in its jaws.


	6. Chapter 6

The door to the crypt was pried open and a flashlight beam shined inside. The small caress of that light and the moonlight behind it seemed nearly painful to Peggy. Her whole body still ached and she was not a hundred percent sure that all of her bones were healed. All she really knew was hunger.

Even the night she had been made vampire, she had not been this hungry. It was as if an animal were inside her, clawing to get out. Her instinct told her that if she did not feed, she would die. All thoughts of being civilized, of True Blood, of being monogamous with Eric, were a faded haze beside the desire to kill.

The figure holding the flashlight seemed to be a vaguely familiar young man. He had tousled red hair, bright green eyes, and was perhaps a little shorter than Sam – quite short for a man. He was slim and beardless, and dressed a bit heavily for the hot night, in jeans and sneakers, and a long sleeved black t-shirt advertising Bloody Mary's Bar in the French Quarter.

A corner of Peggy's mind remembered that Bloody Mary's was closed now, having burned down, even as she launched herself at the young man. If she knew him, she would have to be sorry later. Right now, she had to feed.

It was more by magic than by muscle that she flew towards her prey, knocking him back into the grass. Peggy landed on the boy, who began to struggle immediately. She was vaguely aware that he was calling her name in an accented voice, but she was all vampire now. Her fangs were sharp and heavy in her mouth as they thrust forward with alarming precision.

Peggy threw back her head, then bit into the boy's neck. He cried out again, but the shout died in his throat as his blood rushed into her mouth. Peggy swallowed heavily, greedily, feeling the hot rush of the elixir that would heal her flooding into her. Damn, but it tasted SO good. A million times better than True Blood. Why had she ever held back? Why had she let Eric and Christopher's stupid display of male pride stop her from this? She felt a moan welling up inside and realized that not only was her body starting to heal at a fantastic rate, but she was aroused.

She stroked a hand down the boy's ribcage and realized that he was wearing something under his t-shirt, a bandage of sorts. He tried to grab her hand, but he was weakening quickly as she drank. Her hand trailed over his thigh but didn't quite slide between his legs before Eric's face swam into her mind.

This was why they drank from each other – for this feeling. How hard would it be to drink from live humans and then turn that desire to each other instead of on their meal? She didn't know, couldn't tell. Still, she knew this boy was going to die so there was no point in touching him…intimately.

"Peggy," he gasped in her ear, "Please stop."

It was the first time that it really sank in that she knew this boy. He was a friend, and she was killing him. It was her first time, and Eric wasn't with her.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity around them. She heard a dog barking, heard male voices shouting. It took every ounce of strength to pull her fangs out of the boy's neck and lift up her head… just in time to see Eric descend from the sky, landing on the ground beside her. The look of worry and concern for her on his face brought back a rush of love for him.

And then hands were lifting her up, pulling her off. She was confused – it wasn't Eric. She could see Eric, and his expression was turning dark. She drew in a useless breath and with it came the scent of her maker, Christopher Santiago.

"Margaret, let him go," Christopher said harshly.

"You've had enough," said Eric.

"Not nearly," Peggy murmured, licking her lips. Her chin was wet and sticky with blood. Oh, but she wanted more!

The boy lay in the grass, his eyes closed, his throat bleeding at a mere trickle. Eric knelt beside him to inspect the wound. "Very neat," he said, sounding proud.

"Just heal up the wound," Christopher growled, still holding Peggy's arms. "Margaret is hurt. She's going to need a lot more blood."

Eric licked at the young man's throat, then made a face. "Ugh, not my favorite flavor."

Christopher chuckled. "It does take some getting used to, but after a while you realize it's a delicacy. Now if you'll take your lover, I'll take mine."

Eric turned and took Peggy from Christopher. He lifted her gently into his arms, and she whimpered softly. He kissed her temple. "When we find the one who did this to you, she will pay," he swore.

"I love you, Eric," Peggy gasped.

"I know," Eric replied.

She was in too much of a state to be either angry or amused by that. Turning her head, she saw Christopher pick up the boy. He smirked down at the lad, his gaze somehow victorious. Peggy didn't know what to make of that.

"Who is he?" she whispered.

"You don't know?" Eric said, looking surprised.

"Looks familiar."

"That's An—"

"Angelo," said Christopher firmly. Eric glared at him. Christopher glared back. "Angelo Boudreaux."

"One of Anne Marie's cousins?" Peggy wondered.

"Something like that," Eric said from behind clenched teeth. "Let's just go, Santiago."

Peggy put her arms around Eric's neck. Lifting them was easier now, even though she was still hurting. "I'm hungry, Eric," she whispered.

"I know you are, my darling," he murmured back, kissing the top of her head. "Don't worry. You are safe now. I'll take care of you."

"It hurts."

Eric immediately turned his head and shifted her so she could get to his throat. She sank in her fangs greedily, sucking at him, knowing he would stop her from taking too much. In only a few seconds he pulled away, but all her pain was gone. Only the hunger still tore at her gut. She was sure she could stand on her own, but she liked being in Eric's arms.

She started to close her eyes but a furious bark made her open them again. She was shocked to see Sam Merlotte running towards them with a large black Labrador retriever by his side. But more shocking than that…

"What the hell is Sam wearing?" she mumbled.

Eric chuckled. "Sam has a new look."

"Eric!" Sam said, surprising Peggy with his tone filled with longing and something else vaguely familiar. "I have found Peggy for you, like you told me to. She's…in your arms."

"Did you glamour him?" Peggy asked.

"Yes," said Eric.

"But…how?"

"The whole story is both amusing and disturbing," said Christopher. "But I suggest we tell it back at my apartment."

"We can't leave Sam here," Peggy insisted.

"No," Eric agreed. "He has my car. Santiago, give him your address."

"He can follow me," Christopher said. "I'm not going to take chances with Angelo here."

"Suit yourself," said Eric, and the next thing Peggy knew, they were in the sky, and then they were on a gallery in the French Quarter, and then Eric was laying her down on a big, soft bed. He sat down next to her and she scrabbled at him, not wanting to let go. "Shh, darling. Relax," he murmured, bending, brushing his lips over her forehead. "I'm going to fetch you someone to eat."

"True Blood," Peggy whispered.

"Too late," Eric said quietly. "Not now. Not tonight. You need fresh to heal."

Peggy closed her eyes. She felt him get up from the bed and leave the room. A moment later he came back with a handsome, young blond boy who couldn't have been much more than eighteen. From the marks on his throat and the eager look in his eyes, she knew he was a fangbanger.

"I'm a friend of Christopher's," he said in a perky voice, sitting next to her and offering his wrist, but he stared at Eric while she bit in and drank. Peggy found her control was much greater now, having fed from Eric, and not being in so much pain. She took only a few mouthfuls, afraid of weakening him to the point where he passed out the way Angelo Boudreaux had.

Eric brought in two more young men after him, letting her sample, letting her learn, assuaging her overwhelming hunger. It was so amazing, she thought, the way this felt, tasted, how it brought her to life. She wasn't sure she would be able to stop herself from touching them if she hadn't been so drastically injured.

Again, they were both more interested in Eric than in her. Peggy chuckled… then wondered what had happened to Anne Marie's brother, Simone, who had been made vampire by Christopher and had been his lover. Had he been replaced by Angelo? It seemed that way. Anne Marie had once dated Christopher as well. Was he working his way through her whole family?

Well, that would take a while. Anne Marie had a big family.

She was healing. She was nearly well, she thought, and when Eric led the last of the boys out of the room, he closed the door, locked it, and slipped out of his clothes. The big Viking began tenderly to undress her, peppering her face with kisses, whispering endearments.

"Eric…we have many things we need to talk about," Peggy said, but then she moaned as his fingers found the core of her lust for him.

"I know," he said, his voice an urgent rumble. "But talking can wait until tomorrow. Right now, I need this more."


	7. Chapter 7

"Sam," said Lafayette, changing from a dog back into himself as they got into the corvette, "Just why, exactly, are we going to a vampire's apartment?"

"Because Eric's going there," Sam replied, feeling slightly dreamy at the thought of the Viking vampire.

"That is a reason for us to be going in the opposite direction," Lafayette said. "I need to get home to my wife."

"This is Eric's car," Sam pointed out.

"We can rent another car."

"You're naked."

"Mo'fucka." Lafayette swore. "Well, let's borrow some clothes from Eric, rent a car, and go home."

Sam perked up. "D'you think I can get Eric to take his clothes off?"

Lafayette covered his face with his hand and muttered to himself the rest of the way to the Quarter. As Sam was carefully parallel parking behind Christopher Santiago, Lafayette looked over at him and frowned. "How did Eric get here if you have his car?" he demanded.

"He flew."

"That son of a bitch can FLY?" Lafayette looked incredulous.

Sam grinned. "Almost makes you wish you were a vampire, don't it?"

"Not me," said Lafayette, and he turned back into a dog. Sam got out of the 'vette and went around to let Lafayette out.

"I will never get used to that," Sam muttered.

Christopher had gotten out of the Porsche in front of them, then turned and gently lifted the young man he had been holding in the cemetery out. Without the gorgeous distraction of Eric, Sam got a better look at the dark-haired vampire. He had an older countenance than Eric, and a mischievous tilt to his eyes and full lips. He was tall and as always, was wearing his signature top hat and tails. Sam had never seen him in anything besides formal wear.

He wondered why he had never noticed how handsome Christopher was before. Sam knew he was wicked, more wicked even than Eric, but somehow that danger was now deliciously intriguing. He saw Sam looking him over and winked playfully.

"Oh yes, Sam, I have everything you want," he said, reading the naked lust on Sam's face. "In more ways than one. Tie your dog to the fire hydrant and come inside."

Lafayette growled. For some reason this made Christopher laugh – a long burst of laughter that made Sam grin and then realize that Santiago knew damned well that the dog was a shape shifter.

"He doesn't have any clothes."

"That won't be a problem at my place."

The boy in Santiago's arms stirred slightly and moaned, drawing Sam's attention. If Eric and Santiago had spiked his hormones, this boy sent them nearly into overload. The lad had red curly hair and an angel's face that was slightly familiar. Before Sam could study him further, another boy came and opened the door to Santiago's building and he carried the lad inside.

They went through a brick courtyard lush with plants and complete with a fountain – three lion's heads set into the wall spewing jets into a small pool, up a wide staircase to a second floor apartment. From an gallery they entered a large, opulent room furnished in comfortable-looking but elegant antiques – low tables, fainting couches, a thick oriental carpet. There was an excellent modern sound system hidden somewhere, and a Lady Gaga CD pulsing softly was adding to the sensual atmosphere of the room.

There were half a dozen young human men, all very attractive, all very different in looks ranging from blond and blue-eyed to sharply handsome Asian. There were also three young-looking male vampires. Sam thought he remembered one of them from last time he had been in New Orleans a few years ago. The vampire nodded at him, then trailed his eyes over Sam's body, arching an eyebrow at his pink tank top and booty shorts ensemble. Sam stood up a little straighter.

"Everyone, this is Sam Merlotte, and…" Santiago looked at the dog.

"Lafayette," said Sam.

"Like the cemetery?" said Santiago, arching an eyebrow like a crow's wing.

"He was conceived there," Sam replied weakly and laughter rippled through the room. Santiago just shook his head.

"Roberto, get Mr. Merlotte a drink while I take care of this." He shifted the lad in his arms and again Sam was drawn to look at the unconscious young man.

Sam's heart skipped a beat, and he wondered if love at first sight were possible. He tried to think back on his previous lovers (surely he had some) but couldn't bring any faces to mind. There was a vibrant red smear on the lad's throat, and suddenly Sam realized that a vampire had been feeding on him.

Anger coursed through Sam and his hands knotted into fists. Who had hurt the kid? Surely he wasn't a fangbanger! He didn't have the look of it. Was it Santiago who had laid him low? Or Eric? Or… or Peggy? Visions of stakes danced in Sam's head. That stupid female. If she had nearly killed this young man, Sam was going to pay her back in kind. Plus then, Eric would be free… though the excitement that was Eric Northman had faded some since Sam had seen…seen…

"Who is that?" he demanded of Christopher.

Christopher grinned widely. "This really is so much fun," he said, then turned and carried the boy out of the room.

Sam tagged after him, and Lafayette followed Sam. "No, you don't understand," Sam said. "I have to know who that boy is!"

They entered an opulent bedroom with a four poster bed with red silk hangings, and Santiago put the kid down with more tenderness than Sam would have suspected was in him, then turned to face Sam.

"You really don't know who this is?" Christopher demanded.

"Do I know him?" Sam asked, bewildered.

Lafayette reverted to his human form just then. Christopher smirked and let his gaze linger over the black man's muscular body. Sam was too distracted by the red-headed kid to even check the nude man out.

"Do you know this… this boy?" Santiago asked Lafayette.

"He look like my wife," said Lafayette.

"Your wife?"

"Yes, my wife. Anne Marie."

Santiago laughed again, so long and hard that bloody tears rolled down his paper white cheeks. He grabbed the post of the bed, howling with laughter.

"What is wrong with him?" Lafayette asked Sam.

"I have no idea. So is the kid related to your wife, then?"

"I don't know, Sam," Lafayette shrugged.

Finally Santiago stopped laughing and composed himself. He waved a hand towards a large, dark oak wardrobe. "There are clothes in there. Please, help yourself, my dear Lafayette." He sobered and looked at Sam. "The young man is called Angelo Boudreaux."

"Still?" Eric asked.

Sam dragged his eyes away from the insensate red-head to look at the Viking who now filled the doorway. For the first time, he incongruously noticed the flocked black and cream wallpaper, the crown molding, the crystal chandelier. The allure of Eric had dimmed in the presence of the young man who Sam thought might be his new love. He tilted his head and felt a roll of fear. What if Angelo wasn't gay?

"How is Margaret?" Christopher asked.

"She will recover by tomorrow night," Eric said. "I thank you for your hospitality and your …enthusiastic… donors."

"Anything for a friend," said Christopher, bowing slightly.

"We are not friends," Eric said.

"I meant Margaret." Santiago smirked.

"Sam and I need to get back to Bon Temps," said Lafayette.

"We're not in a hurry," Sam protested, glancing back over at Angelo.

"I need to get back to my wife," Lafayette insisted. "We got a kid. I can't just be playin' around with vampires."

"It's too late to leave now," said Santiago. "Stay and sleep. I insist. Eric, the bedrooms are all equipped with stainless steel light tight protectors for the day."

"Then I am going to Margaret," he said with a gleam in his eyes. "Until tomorrow."  
He turned, but paused in the doorway, then turned back, his face set in grim determination. "Santiago," he said, "I think perhaps it would help matters if Sam spent the day looking after Angelo."

Santiago arched both brows. "Have you become sentimental, Northman?"

"No," Eric said shortly, "But Margaret has not lost that part of her humanity yet. So for the sake of her friendship…"

Sam had no idea why Eric would want him to look after Angelo, but he liked the thought. "I'm glad to help," he said, trying to sound modest.

"All right, all right," said Santiago, wavering between a pout and a look of amusement. "Sam, feel free to enjoy the apartment. Just don't open any locked doors." He looked at Lafayette. "As for you, puppydog, there's another bedroom down the hall. If you would like someone to join you in it, all of my handsome friends are quite free with their affections."

Lafayette's face became a thundercloud. "I told all you mo'fuckas, I am a happily married STRAIGHT man!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Margaret, wake up," Eric's voice whispered.

"No," Peggy replied stubbornly, keeping her eyes tightly shut. She felt Eric press close against her, both of them naked in soft, silky sheets.

Peggy accessed her body. She felt hungry, but the hunger wasn't overwhelming… she felt refreshed… nothing hurt. Nothing hurt! She was healed. The only pain was the blinding lust that Eric was carefully extorting from her. She relaxed and opened to his touch. Opened her eyes. Saw they were in a dark room, carefully sealed, light tight. Eric smiled at her, his blue eyes bright and wicked. He reached out and touched a button near the bedside table and with a metallic groan the steel curtains began to rise to let in the New Orleans moonlight.

"Eric—"

"Not yet. I do not want to talk yet," he said firmly.

His lips touched her forehead, then her cheek, just above the cheekbone. Finally he claimed her mouth, tender, then demanding. She ground her lips against his, just as demanding. Not talking seemed like a good idea if this was the alternative.

Everything was still so blurry in her mind. She knew she should be thinking, should be sorting things out, but how could she push Eric away just now? She couldn't. She had never been able to do that.

He kissed his way down her throat and she arched her neck, waiting for the familiar sting of his teeth. Her grazed her skin with his fangs, but didn't sink them in the way he normally did when he possessed her as he was doing now. She raked her nails down the long, muscular white expanse of his back. His muscles worked as he ground her into the bed.

"Bite me," she demanded.

"No," he murmured. "Not tonight."

She let out a noise of frustration, but Eric only chuckled and did something with his tongue that told her he would not allow anything less than her full satisfaction. Once he had given her that, once they had both achieved that, he held her against him, their arms around each other, and she felt closer to him than she had in several months. Maybe this accident was a good thing.

But no, she reminded herself. It wasn't an accident.

"There was a woman with pink hair," she said quietly. "She did this to me."

"What can you tell me about her?"

Peggy thought for a moment, then shook her head. She related what details she could remember. "She is powerful. And—Eric! Sam and Lafayette!"

"They're here."

"Are they all right?"

Eric snickered. "Well… Sam thinks he is gay. Lafayette thinks he is married to Anne Marie."

"What?"

"They seem to have exchanged essential parts of their personalities," Eric said thoughtfully. "It is actually rather amusing."

Peggy wanted to ask how this was possible, but she knew that the only answers could be had from the pink-haired woman. "Did you bring them here?"

"More or less," Eric said, shifting his eyes so Peggy knew that she probably wouldn't like the answer of how that came to be. "There's one more thing, Margaret, and this puzzles me. Lafayette seems to have inherited Sam's shape shifting ability."

Peggy's eyes widened and her mouth opened in a round O. "That is astounding. I mean, Eric, how is that physically possible? Isn't shifting part of Sam's…genetic makeup…or…something?"

"I am not a scientist, Margaret," Eric said with amusement, but then, more seriously, "I am also certain that no shifter or vampire wishes to be scientifically analyzed. So barring that, we must take these events at face value. It is magic."

"So is the pink-haired woman a witch?"

"Or something else," Eric said, "But I do not know what. I only know that we have to find her and then, I will kill her." He said it so calmly, but the hard light in his eyes told Peggy he was deadly serious.

"She said she was going to use me as bait," Peggy said. "What if she's after you?"

Eric laughed. "Then she has my attention. But what could she want of me? I'm only a simple businessman."

"There is nothing simple about you, Eric, and you know it. With the sort of power she has already exhibited, she might be able to kill you."

"I am already dead," Eric said infuriatingly.

"I know, I know and you know what I mean!"

He smiled. "I do. Forgive my teasing. Now alas, we should get up, dress, feed, and then have a meeting to discuss this unfortunate situation."

"A meeting with Christopher?"

"Yes," Eric said, his dislike for her maker obvious in his terse reply. She ignored it for now.

"And Sam and Lafayette, of course, and…is Anne Marie here?" Peggy wondered who was taking care of the baby. Anne Marie would never bring her child into a dangerous situation. With a flash of shame Peggy remembered that she had attacked her friend's cousin Angelo last night.

Eric cursed softly in Swedish for a long moment. She met his gaze and knew he was holding something back from her, something he clearly wanted to tell her, but could not for a reason that later she was likely to find flimsy.

"What is it?"

"Christopher asked me not to tell you."

Peggy frowned. "Then whatever it is, it is a situation that amuses him. He loves tricks and games."

"Indeed he does."

"But you hold no love for him, Eric. Why keep this promise?"

"I can only guess that he might have a good reason. If he doesn't—well, this bit of information will be yours before dawn. Will you forgive me that?"

"Of course." Peggy smiled. "You are not one to ask for forgiveness, Eric."

"Things have been more tense between us lately than I would like," Eric admitted. "I do not wish to make it more so by holding back something."

"I love you," Peggy sighed, and kissed him again until they had to break apart or make love again. She would have preferred the latter, but she knew there was much to do tonight. She got back on track.

"Anne Marie is here," Eric said slowly. He hadn't forgotten her earlier question. "You will see her when she is ready to see you, I suppose."

"Is Angelo still alive? Is Anne Marie angry with me for attacking her cousin?" Peggy asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Eric looked frustrated for a moment, then composed himself. "I do not know," he admitted. "I suppose you will find out tonight. But why does this upset you so much? You needed to feed, so you took the closest food source. It is the vampire way."

"I can't hurt my friends or their loved ones," Peggy said. "I won't be able to stand it if I do."

"That feeling will die," Eric said calmly. "I am surprised that you still have it. Margaret, we are dangerous to everyone we encounter, including each other—but especially to humans."

"I tried so hard to maintain control. All that True Blood…" she heard the angst in her own voice.

"It was a facade," Eric said gently.

"Was it?" Peggy said bitterly.

"Do you feel safe now, with me?"

"Yes, of course."

"That is an illusion, too."

She met his gaze, feeling wounded. One bloody tear trickled down her cheek. He bent and licked it away. "No," she said in a choked voice. "It is not an illusion. I refuse to believe it."

In a flash Eric had her pinned to the bed with his hand at her throat. He squeezed slightly and she knew he could break her neck, could rip her head clean off. He was far stronger than her. She froze.

"Go ahead," she told them when he relaxed his grip and she could talk. "I am your creature, yours to love, and yours to kill. I am not afraid. If you want me to die, then I have no reason to live. So you see, Eric. I am safe with you."

He let go of her, his blue eyes wide and round. He bent his head and kissed the tender little spots on her throat that his tight grip had made. "Damn you," he whispered.

"Why?"

"For making me feel so strongly."

"Is that so bad?"

"When you were taken, when I thought you might be dead, I felt fear. I do not like to be afraid, Margaret!" His hand clenched into a fist, this time thankfully around the sheet and not around her throat.

She stroked his blond hair, twisted it around her fingers. The golden locks gleamed in the filtered moonlight. She let her hand trail over his broad, white shoulders. She said with her body the words that wouldn't come just then. How she loved him. How ingrained in her he had become!

Finally Eric sat up, kissed her again and climbed out of the bed. "Shower?"

She nodded. "A quick one. Christopher is waiting for us."

"Is he?"

"I feel his impatience," she said. The tie between Peggy and her maker, weak though it was and non-binding though it was, felt stronger when he was near. At the reminder of that bond, Eric frowned and stalked off into the bathroom.

Peggy slipped out of bed and followed, determined to improve his mood while they showered.

She did.

Immensely.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam sat on the edge of the bed next to Angelo Boudreaux and stared at the sleeping lad. Lafayette had gone off to sleep in another room of the apartment. The red-haired young man had a splash of freckles across the bridge of his nose that Sam wanted to lick. He had full lips, long eyelashes. Christopher had directed Sam to pull off Angelo's shoes, which were tossed haphazardly next to the bed, but aside from that had left him fully dressed.

Sam thought about undressing him.

Sam thought about stroking that curly red hair and kissing that mouth. Would the lad wake up like Sleeping Beauty? Could Sam be his prince?

Deep inside, Sam knew he was no prince. He sighed. If he kissed Angelo and woke him, he was just as likely to get punched in the nose as to have the kiss returned. Better not to risk it.

And so he sat beside the boy and stared.

Sam's brain felt so fuzzy. Something was wrong with him, he suspected, but he was unable to figure it out. He suspected that Eric and Santiago knew what was wrong, and that they hadn't seen fit to explain it to him. This suspicious made a hot gush of anger bubble up inside Sam's gut.

He tried to tell himself that it wasn't important, that it would work itself out in time. There was no doubt in Sam's mind that the most important task before him was to watch over Angelo and take care of him.

Towards dawn, Sam found himself dozing in the chair next to the bed. He was awakened by a whispered voice.

"Sam," Angelo said.

"Yes?" He snapped awake.

"You really here?" Angelo's voice had a thick Cajun twang.

"Yes. Eric asked me to look after you."

"Eric Northman?" the young man's brow wrinkled.

"Yes… and Christopher Santiago."

"Santiago. Oh, lor' we in trouble now," Angelo said, sounding dry and scratchy.

"Do you need something to drink?"

"If we gone talk, please."

"I will be right back."

Sam quickly found the kitchen and a well-stocked refrigerator. This surprised him at first but then he remembered all of Santiago's human "friends." Sam recalled that Angelo had likely lost a good deal of blood to whichever vampire had bit him last night, so he grabbed a carton of orange juice and slopped a fair amount into a tall glass. Leaving the carton on the counter, he toted the juice back to Angelo.

The boy had worked himself into a sitting up position, and gratefully took the glass, downing the contents in one long swallow. Setting the glass on the bedside table, he stared solemnly at Sam for a long moment.

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

"Do… do you know who I am?"

"Santiago told me that you're Anne Marie's cousin, Angelo Boudreaux," Sam replied. "Have we met before? You seem so familiar but surely I would remember you, if we knew each other."

Angelo sighed. "Yes, we met," he said sounding exasperated.

"Maybe at Anne Marie's wedding?" Sam was quite sure he had been to Anne Marie's wedding though he couldn't quite recall the details. Maybe he'd had a lot to drink.

Angelo stared at him for a long moment. "Anne Marie's wedding."

"To Lafayette. He's…uh…here, too."

Angelo nodded, then smiled, laughed. "Dis almos' too much," he muttered.

"How's your throat?" Sam asked.

"Sore." Gingerly he lifted his fingers to the spot where he'd been bitten. "How it looks?"

"Just bruised. Healing," Sam said, looking at the slim column and wanting to kiss the purpled flesh.

"No bite mark?"

"Nope." Anger rose in Sam's gut once more. "Which one of them bit you?"

"Peggy," Angelo said. "Surprise t'hell out me."

"I will make sure she never bites you again," Sam promised. "Soon's I can get my hands on a stake." He made a fist, his hand in his lap, but Angelo reached out and took it, stroking the clenched fingers with his thumb until Sam relaxed them.

"No, Sam. You just let Peggy alone. She probably had somethin' happen to her," he insisted. "Kinda like somethin' happen to you."

"You mean the pink-haired woman?"

Angelo nodded. "We got to find that woman. Dat's who you kin stake, you."

"Well, whatever she did, I'm fine now," Sam replied.

"You think so?"

"I think it's best not to chase trouble," said Sam. "Besides, if Eric hadn't sent me here to look for Peggy, I might never have gotten to know you better." He smiled what he hoped was a sexy smile at Angelo, then winked.

Angelo stared. "You…flirtin' with me, Sam Merlotte?"

Sam felt his cheeks heat. "Maybe. Listen, if you're not gay, I didn't mean to offend you."

"I ain't offended," Angelo said, then tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well, maybe jes a little." He laughed, and the throaty sound sent a spike of lust though Sam. "You wanta kiss me, Sam?"

Sam's stomach twisted. "I do want to kiss you."

"You kiss alotta boys?"

"Well, sure," Sam said, but he couldn't think of any men he had kissed, not offhand.

"Really."

"I don't know," Sam said, laughing. "It's so strange. I just feel close to you. Like the moment I saw you… I wanted you."

"Then… kiss me," said Angelo.

Sam leaned in and kissed him. He pressed his mouth slowly against the red-haired lad's lips, feeling their warm fullness beneath his own. Angelo's lips were soft and welcoming. Sam nibbled at his full lower lip. He groaned against the young man's mouth. Angelo sucked in a breath and opened his mouth. His tongue darted hesitantly over Sam's lips. Sam opened and stroked Angelo's questing tongue with his own. He pressed forward against Angelo, pressing him back against the pillows.

The tender exploration seemed to go on forever. Finally, both of them breathing recklessly, Sam pulled back, let go, and saw Angelo's eyes filled with desire. The longing displayed by the young man was nearly Sam's undoing.

"My God, Angelo, you're beautiful," Sam muttered breathlessly.

Suddenly Angelo looked disappointed. "Kiss didn't work," he said dully.

"Oh, it worked! It worked! I want to take you right now and bang the hell out of you," Sam said.

Angelo just shook his head. "Not tonight, Sam Merlotte," he said firmly.

Sam nodded. "I understand. We don't really know each other very well, yet."

Angelo looked as if he were torn between weeping and punching Sam in the face. Understanding neither of these reactions, Sam got up hastily.

"Where you goin'?"

"I'm going to get you some more juice." Sam turned and fled towards the door.

"Make me a sammich, too!" Angelo hollered hoarsely after him.

Sam took his time, overwhelmed and confused. He tried to sort out what he felt. Probably Angelo thought it was just something below the waist, but Sam knew it was more than that.

When he came back into the bedroom, Lafayette was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to Angelo. Sam felt a burst of jealousy, and he fought not to show it. There was no need, he reminded himself. Lafayette was straight. Lafayette was married. And today, Lafayette had clothes on!

Angelo looked somewhat frustrated, as if he had been attempting to explain something to Lafayette that was just beyond his reach. Lafayette seemed perfectly calm and happy.

"I love Anne Marie," Lafayette was saying.

"But you don' remember when you was married. You don' remember meetin' her Granmawmaw. You don' remember Baby Belle's birthday…"

Lafayette shook his head. "Well, of course I do. I just can't recollect all that right now."

Angelo made a frustrated sound. Sam handed him the sandwich and sat down in the chair he had occupied for most of the previous night. Angelo set the plate on the bedside table and didn't touch it.

"You look tired," Sam said. "You should get some more sleep."

Lafayette nodded. "Good idea." He got up and took the sandwich. "Nice talkin' to you, Angelo," he said, and left the room with the food.

"Want me to make you another one?" Sam asked apologetically.

"No," Angelo said. "I am tired. Jes…can you curl up wid me?"

Sam was more than happy to oblige.


	10. Chapter 10

Peggy followed Eric into Christopher's living room, looking around at all the luscious boys, the ones who had fed her the night before, a few others, a few young vampires. Hunger pulsed inside her. Her first thought was True Blood, but on the heels of that thought was the knowledge that it would never again quite satisfy. She grabbed Eric's wrist and he turned to look at her.

They stared into each other's eyes. Peggy was aware of music pulsing softly in the background. My God, Christopher is obsessed with Lady Gaga, she thought, then she put that out of her mind and the soundtrack was just there, underscoring the issues that she had to face tonight.

"Stop thinking of him," said Eric.

"Where is he?" Peggy asked.

Eric kissed her possessively. She fisted her hands around the silk of his black shirt. Hung on. Felt as possessive as he did. Knew all of these boys were looking at him, wanting him. All except for Sam. Sam sat on the couch with his red-haired young man, Angelo Boudreaux. They were staring into each other's eyes the same was she and Eric were.

Poor Anne Marie, she thought.

Eric pushed her, and Peggy sprawled backwards over an antique sofa upholstered in crimson velvet, thick with matching pillows. She willed him on top of her, but he stood staring down at her. Without looking away, Eric jerked his fingers at a blond young man, a human who leapt to his feet at his command.

"Margaret needs blood," he said.

The young man knelt at her feet gracefully, offered his wrist. Peggy grabbed it, stroked the pale flesh. She felt his pulse beneath the pale skin. Saw the mostly-healed wound from where she had bitten him the night before. Oh, yes. The blond. He had been the sweetest of the three. And now, she wanted him again.

Her fangs snicked out, shimmering in her mouth. They felt almost as though they had a life of their own. They wanted to bury themselves in his flesh. All around them, Peggy was aware of the other humans and their emotions, their desire… jealousy, their lust to be bitten, for sex, for Christopher, for Eric.

Peggy looked up at Eric. He had schooled his expression to blank, but she could read him even better than anyone else in the room. They were connected by blood. Bound. And there was more than blood, there was their affection, their love… tested and strained though it had been lately, Peggy now knew that she should never have doubted Eric.

Ever.

"Is this what you what?" she asked softly.

His eyebrows shifted slightly in what to her was a frown – no one else was likely to have seen it or noticed. "Margaret," he said softly, sensibly, "You need blood."

"True Blood."

"Nothing has changed since last night."

"Everything has changed since last night."

Eric looked at the young man kneeling by her feet. His glance was dispassionate. His eyes flicked back up at Peggy. "Tell him to get you a True Blood, then. Do as you like, Margaret. It takes nothing away from us."

She opened her mouth to ask him if he was sure, but without her having to form the question, he nodded slightly. Peggy tore her gaze away and pulled the blond boy up into her lap. Her fingers looked pale against his throat as she stroked his skin, then sank her fangs into his throbbing vein.

She sank into a world of color, of life, of revival. It tasted so good, though she couldn't have named the flavor. The metallic tang of True Blood was completely absent. So much better. Wet, delicious, hot.

She didn't know how much time had passed before Eric pried her away. She followed his cue, not wanting to kill the young fangbanger. The boy was laughing, sounding slightly maniacal. He was aroused, but not by her. His eyes were fever bright. Peggy was aware of Christopher standing over her, lifting the boy out of her lap and away from her.

"He needs rest," Christopher said firmly. He carried the young man off into one of the bedrooms. By the time he reappeared, Eric was sitting next to her on the couch, licking the blood off of her chin. Christopher made a slight noise of disapproval. "Northman, do you need nourishment?" he waved a hand at the remaining humans.

"I am fine, thank you," said Eric.

Christopher nodded at the rest of the men and young vampires and they absented themselves, leaving only Sam, Angelo, and the three of them. A moment later, Lafayette wandered out of the back bedroom and joined them.

"He looks confused," Peggy mumbled.

"You are all confused," Eric said.

Peggy wanted to protest, but he was right. She nodded. Leaned against Eric. He drew her close, supported her. Knew then, that she wasn't really in danger of losing him. Was she? She had never felt closer to him.

Christopher cleared his throat. They all gave him their attention. Peggy forced herself to focus. Why did it seem so difficult? She knew her body was healed. She even thought her relationship with Eric was healed. Why couldn't she quite think?

"I have theory on what has happened to the three of you," he said, glancing from Peggy to Sam to Lafayette.

"We all have theories," Eric snapped. "We need facts."

Christopher glared at him. "The woman with the pink hair—"

"Is indeed a witch."

Everyone's head swiveled to look at Sophie-Anne Leclerq, Queen of the Vampires of Louisiana, who had just strode into the room followed by her companion, Andre, and two large, ancient vampire guards who Peggy remembered from their visit to New Orleans several years ago though she hadn't learned their names.

Christopher made an exaggerated bow in her direction, which Sophie-Anne waved off, as if she were used to such abeyance from him. Eric inclined his head, which for him was tantamount to a bow, and Peggy followed his lead. With bright eyes, the Queen strode forward and kissed Peggy on both cheeks, smiling softly.

"My dear Margaret, I am delighted to see you back in my city, even if the means of your arrival causes me great dismay."

"Thank you," Peggy said softly. She forced herself to fight the urge to grab Eric's hand for support. Somehow she knew it would be seen as a display of weakness. Sophie-Anne stepped back and looked Eric up and down.

"Trouble follows you everywhere, Northman," she said somewhat more sharply. Eric nodded slightly but did not reply. Sophie-Anne swung around to look at the rest of them. She stared at Angelo for a long moment, then let out a harsh laugh. "Very creative," she said, looking at Christopher. "Was this your idea, Santiago?"

"No," said Christopher, his lips twisting in a wry grin, "But it seems to be working. Rather amusing, no?"

Sophie-Anne didn't bother to answer. Her gaze came next to Lafayette, who looked at her suspiciously. "Turn into a dog," she demanded.

"Fuck, no," said Lafayette. "Who the hell is this bitch?"

The Queen's backhand smashed Lafayette back into the wall. He slid down in to the floor, rubbing his cheek, but aside from that didn't seem much harmed.

"I beg your pardon," he said, not quite keeping a sneer from his tone. "I guess that's Miss Bitch."

"Queen Bitch," said Santiago cheerfully, but he forced himself to look contrite when Andre glared at him.

"Close enough," said Sophie-Anne. "Can he really turn into a dog?"

"Yes," said Eric.

"Let's get down to brass tacks," said Andre softly. "We need to find the pink-haired witch, and we need to do it quickly."

"Do you have a suggestion of how we might do that?" Eric asked, sounding icily polite.

"Yes," said Sophie-Anne. "There's one person who can help. Without their help, the situation is very unlikely to reverse itself."

"Well, who is it?" Sam asked.

Sophie-Anne looked irked. "Why, Sookie Stackhouse, of course."

"Of course," Eric muttered. "Who else?"

"It's Sookie Compton, now," said Peggy.

"Is it?" said Andre, with interest.

"And I wasn't invited to the wedding?" Christopher complained.

"Now," said Sophie-Anne, waving a hand to silence them all, "Where is she?"


	11. Chapter 11

Sam took Angelo's hand in his own without thinking about it or analyzing why he felt protective of the young man. He knew that Sophie-Anne Leclerq wasn't anyone to mess with and that whatever she demanded of them would have to be obeyed whether he liked it or not. Damned vampires. Getting involved with them was always a mistake.

Sookie was the only one who could stop the pink-haired witch? She wasn't going to like that, and besides, it wasn't fair to interrupt her honeymoon…

"She's here in New Orleans," Christopher said slowly.

"How will we find her?" Sam demanded.

"I will send Bill a text message," said Eric, but the look he got from Sophie-Anne at that suggestion told Sam that she didn't think this was a very useful tack. All the same, Eric took out his phone and began typing.

"'Scuse me," said Angelo, "But how Sookie gone stop dis witch?"

Sam tried not to get his hackles up as Sophie-Anne looked at Angelo as if he were less than nothing. The vampire queen clearly thought little of humans.

"I never said she would stop her. I said she would help," came the icy reply.

"Huh," Angelo replied, looking annoyed. He stood up, and looked over at Christopher Santiago. "Santiago, I got to talk to you."

"Then talk," said Santiago.

"Private," Angelo insisted.

Santiago looked at Sophie-Anne, who just rolled her eyes. "Oh, go ahead. I don't care," she said.

Angelo stalked off to the back bedroom and Santiago followed looked both relieved and amused. Sam jumped to his feet immediately.

"I'm—just—bathroom…" he said lamely.

"I don't care if you eavesdrop either," Sophie-Anne said. "Eric, have you gotten a response to your text message?"

"Not yet," Eric grumbled.

Ignoring the vampires but aware that Andre was watching him, Sam hurried to the back bedroom to try to hear what Angelo was saying to Santiago. Jealousy bit at his insides. Was something going on between the two of them? Sam didn't know if he could stand it. He pressed his ear to the door.

"Where is Simone?" Sam heard Angelo demand. Simone was Anne Marie's brother, Sam knew…so that made him another cousin of Angelo's. Sam also thought he recalled that Simone was Santiago's lover, in which case, Sam wanted to know where he was as well. He didn't want Christopher to get an eye to replacing him with the sweet and tender young Angelo.

"I wish I knew," Santiago replied, sounding glum.

"What dat means?" Angelo demanded.

"It means he went out one night a few weeks ago and never returned," Santiago said, sounding terse. Sam knew this was not his way – Santiago was more inclined to sound glib or wicked.

"You look for him, you?"

"Of course I looked for him!" Santiago snarled. "I love him, regardless of what anyone else may think."

"Hard to believe," Angelo replied stiffly.

"I know," Santiago replied. "But you did believe me once. Why should that have changed? Surely you don't think I have anything to do with his disappearance."

"M'not sure what t'think," Angelo said, "Never was Simone's way to jes run out on people, 'specially if he loved you back."

"Maybe he stopped," Santiago said. "He wouldn't be the first. I believe you fall into that category yourself."

"You done me wrong," Angelo insisted in a stubborn tone and Sam smiled. They might have been involved but it was over and Angelo was clearly no longer interested. Maybe Sam had a chance with Angelo after all!

"We just failed to understand each other," Santiago said reasonably. "Of course, it's not too late…"

"Yes, Santiago, it is too late," Angelo said. "You know I love Sam Merlotte and ain't never gone be anyone else."

Sam reeled. He took a step backwards and nearly smacked into the wall. Angelo loved him? Already? He found himself both thrilled and terrified.

"Just checking," said Christopher. "If you know how I can reach Simone, I would be delighted to…speak to him…"

The vampire fell silent and Sam felt a moment of pity for him. Despite his flirting with Angelo, Sam suspected that he really did care for Simone.

"We got to find him, once we take care dis witch," Angelo said. "And get Sam and dem back to normal."

"I don't know," said Christopher, "I am rather amused by the whole thing."

"I'm not," said Angelo. "Peggy jes sick. She becomin' more and more vampire, her."

"That's not such a bad thing."

"Maybe not to you, but she make a mess what she got wid Eric."

"That's not such a bad thing, either."

"You really wan' see Eric in a bad mood?"

"Well, maybe you have a point," Santiago sighed.

"I got no idea how Lafayette do dog now," said Angelo, "But it ain't right. And Sam…"

"Well, you seem to have worked things out with Sam," Santiago said in a knowing tone. Sam knew he was missing something crucial but he just couldn't put his finger on what.

"I'm gone slap you," Angelo threatened.

"You do and I'll bite you, bitch," Santiago replied cheerfully.

"I been bit enough lately," Angelo growled. "Sam about to stake Peggy for it."

"I'd like to see him try," Santiago said in a soft, dangerous, tone.

"No, you would not," said Angelo. "We all friends, we all been friends for a long time. Some witch NOT gone mess dis up."

Now Sam was thoroughly confused. Been friends a long time? But he had only met Angelo last night…though it seemed longer. He became aware that maybe he shouldn't be listening at the door… and that Angelo and Santiago were nearing the end of their conversation.

Deciding he better not risk being caught, Sam returned to the living room, where Eric was wearing a look of triumph and typing furiously on the keyboard of his phone.

"They are on the midnight cemetery tour," he said. "At St. Louis #1."

"Bill answered his text," Peggy told Sam softly. Sam felt a flash of guilt for having even thought of staking her. They were friends, after all… and what she had done to Angelo had been under the influence of the pink-haired witch.

"Well, don't just sit there. Go get them," Sophie-Anne told Eric impatiently. Sam watched Eric fight his annoyance at being ordered around. He understood how the Viking felt.

Eric nodded and got up slowly. Sam leapt to his feet. "I'll go with you."

"So will I," Peggy said.

"I think you should stay here with Santiago," Eric told her.

"Who says I'm going to stay here?" Santiago asked as he and Angelo emerged.

"If Sam goin', I'm goin'," said Angelo.

"I sure as hell ain't staying here with those two," said Lafayette, indicating Sophie-Anne and Andre. Andre smirked slightly.

"I don't give a good goddamn who goes and who stays, just hop to it," said Sophie-Anne. She arranged herself comfortably on one of the velvet fainting couches. "Christopher, call back one of your pretty humans. All this has made me hungry."

"You will need your strength," Andre said gently. Sam wondered if he was in love with the queen.

Christopher nodded. "All right, all right… I will stay here. The rest of you go."

"Bill and Sookie are not going to be terribly amused to have all of us crashing their honeymoon," Peggy said as the group of them – Eric, Sam, Angelo, Lafayette – headed out the door.

"I would find it much more amusing myself under other circumstances," Eric said. "Do you know how to get to St. Louis #1, Margaret?"

"Yes, of course," Peggy said, leading the way through the streets of the French Quarter.

The moon was bright, half-full and low in the sky, almost orange. The sounds and smells of the French Quarter came to Sam like tangible memories that he could almost, but not quite grasp. He had been here a few years ago with most of this group but some of the details seemed fuzzy.

Why was he still so fuzzy?

Was he still under the spell of the witch? He mostly felt fine… in fact better than fine, because he was in love with Angelo, and Angelo loved him back, and they really needed to talk about this without Sam giving away that he had eavesdropped on Angelo's conversation with Christopher… But there wasn't time to think about it now. Now they were at the cemetery gates, and they had to find Bill and Sookie and take care of this witch.

After that…well, Sam didn't know what would happen.


	12. Chapter 12

The gates of St. Louis #1 rose before the small group from Bon Temps. They were old and rusted but still managed to be fairly ominous, like an old guard dog who would prefer to be sleeping but still has a few good bites left in him. Peggy didn't feel any fear as they approached, but later she wondered if she would have been wiser if she had. Eric had let her lead their party, unusual for him, he who had been born to take control and always had.

She glanced back at him, his golden head shining in the moonlight, his skin as pale as the chalky brick of the wall that surrounded the above-ground cemetery. His blue eyes were luminous and feral. He almost looked as though he were anticipating a fight. The danger in him stirred her endless lust. She would never look at Eric without desiring him.

Sam seemed wary, Angelo determined. Lafayette simply appeared grimly resolved. They had a task, and none of them would stop until it was accomplished. Peggy knew that none of them were looking forward to the tongue-lashing they were all bound to get from Sookie.

Her hearing made sharp by her vampiric senses, Peggy could hear the voice of the tour guide drifting over the crumbling crypts and mausoleums even before they entered the cemetery.

"Marie Laveau was the most powerful and famous Voodoo Queen in the history of Louisiana and perhaps the world… her tomb, to your left, is covered in X's written by her many visitors. It's said that if you leave three X's written in red and an offering, Marie will return from beyond and grant your wish… but if it is granted you must quickly return and write three more X's in black and a thank you gift."

"What happens if you don't leave a thank you gift?"

Peggy instantly identified Sookie's voice. She turned to Eric but he had clearly heard her as well. He brushed past her to the gate, and they saw with some dismay that it was padlocked shut. Not to be deterred, Eric snapped the lock in half with his bare hands.

"Mo'fucka. Which I could do that," said Lafayette.

"Your wife let you talk like dat?" Angelo asked, arching at eyebrow.

"I would never speak like that in front of Anne Marie," Lafayette replied loftily, "Now shut the fuck up and let's go find Sookie."

For some reason, Angelo found this funny. Shaking her head, Peggy turned back to Eric, but with a preternatural blur he zoomed off into the cemetery. It was her turn to swear.

"Where—where did he go?" Sam blurted.

Peggy just shook her head. "Come on. I can find Marie Laveau's tomb. It's very close to the gate."

The water table in New Orleans is too high to bury bodies below the ground, and consequently the cemeteries are comprised of above-ground crypts that tower ten feet and higher, set in little rows that start off neat and over the years become a maze of tombs and monuments. Peggy had come here often with Godric, had played here, had made love to her former keeper here, and so this was a place of joy to her. She knew it was a curiosity to tourists, and an attraction to those of a macabre nature.

To her friends, it seemed to be more of a desolate, haunted ground. It was full of the lost, the departed. It was full of sorrow and despair, of victims and the hapless. Peggy wished she could share her joy at being here with Sam, Angelo, and Lafayette, but not only was it too personal, it was beyond their ken. They were not vampires and did not love them. They were creatures of the daylight, and she was suddenly very aware of the difference between herself and them – a difference that had existed even before she had joined the ranks of the undead.

No use dwelling on that now. There wasn't time, and they had a mission. And where the fuck was Eric?

Peggy shook her head. She was getting as bad as Lafayette with the language, even if she hadn't voiced the sentiment out loud.

To the left, to the right, a twist here and a turn there, and there was Marie Laveau's grave. Before it stood Sookie, a lipstick in her hand, marking three red X's on the cement of the crypt. She was alone.

"Sookie…" said Peggy, startling her and causing her to drop the lipstick.

"My stars, Peggy, you scared me half to death," the buxom Mrs. Compton gasped.

"What are you doing?"

"I waited til the tour group was around the corner so I could make my wish," Sookie explained, picking up the lipstick and putting it back in her oversized purse. "Plus I didn't want the guide to see me – I know this isn't legal, but I just had to give it a shot."

"What you got to wish for, you?" Angelo asked her. "You got ever'ting you ever wanted, Sookie."

Sookie looked at Angelo, shocked stamped over her pretty features. "Why are you dressed like that?" she asked.

"Don't ask," Angelo muttered. Peggy looked over Angelo's outfit, but couldn't see anything odd about the jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt except that it was way too hot for long sleeves.

"You know Angelo, Sookie?" Sam asked, frowning.

"Angelo?" Sookie said, looking from Sam to Angelo and back. "Who—"

"Yep, Sookie knows me, Angelo Boudreaux, Anne Marie's cousin," Angelo interrupted somewhat loudly.

"Uh…" Sookie just looked confused. "Did I miss something?"

"I fill you in later," said Angelo.

"We better find Bill and Eric and get out of here," said Peggy.

"Did Bill tell you that Sophie-Anne wants to see you?" Sam asked Sookie. The blonde waitress nodded.

"You ain't mad we interrupting your honeymoon?" Lafayette asked. He added a slightly obscene gesture to accentuate the word honeymoon. Angelo looked amused, Sam looked embarrassed, and Sookie looked slightly grossed-out.

"Well, of course I'm not mad, Lafayette," said Sookie. "Bill told me Eric said I can help find the witch who ruined my wedding. I am most certainly willing to do that." A collective sigh of relief was breathed, during which Sookie looked at them all incredulously. "You all really thought I'd be mad?"

"You're getting mad now, Sook," Sam pointed out.

Sookie paused, then shook her head. "All right, fine, whatever. Let's—let's just get Bill and get out of here."

"And Eric," Peggy added.

"Eric?"

"He come with us, but he just tear off like he late for the opera when we got here," said Lafayette.

Sookie just shook her head and flounced off around the corner, leaving the rest of them to follow. The tour group didn't seem to be very far ahead. Peggy could hear the guide again.

"This is allegedly the tomb of Delphine LaLaurie, though it doesn't bear her name. Madame LaLaurie was a matron known in the social circles of New Orleans who eventually became notorious when a fire in her Royal Street mansion revealed that she had been torturing her slaves, several of whom were found chained in the attic. LaLaurie escaped with her husband to Paris but was purportedly returned here for burial."

Peggy cringed. The things that humans did to each other were far worse than how vampires treated them. She followed Sookie around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks where she saw the tour group. Bill was listening with half his attention, the other half no doubt looking out for Sookie, and the rest of the group consisted of six other vampires, but no humans.

The tour guide, on the other hand…

"Son of a bitch," said Sam.

"Fuck," said Lafayette.

Angelo said nothing, and neither did Peggy. But Peggy recognized the guide – the pink hair was a dead giveaway. She was the witch who had attacked the three of them at Sookie and Bill's wedding.

A slow smile spread across the witch's face. "Well, well. It seems we have some new additions to our tour. Welcome."

"Somehow I don't feel very welcome," Sam muttered.

"Don't tell me that you invited me here so politely because you couldn't drum up enough interest in your tour," Peggy growled, filled with an insurmountable anger.

Before she could attack, the witch drew back her arm and shouted, "Kill them all!"

It took a moment for Peggy to realize who she was shouting to, but only one. The six other vampires in the tour group sprouted fangs almost all at once. A second later, they sprang into action.

Peggy hadn't been a vampire very long, but she had ancient blood. Not only was her maker, Christopher, several hundred years old, but she had exchanged a great deal of blood with Eric. These vampires were new and young and knew how to obey orders but not how to fight. She easily tossed one of them clean out of the cemetery and broke a second's neck – it wouldn't kill him but it hurt like hell and put him out of the fight.

To Peggy's surprise, Sookie whipped a stake out of her purse. She looked almost too frightened to use it, but Angelo had the sense to grab it and put it to its intended purpose. Bill took care of another vampire after a rather bloody fistfight, and then there were two left.

Lafayette morphed into a huge black dog and found he was more than an equal match for the fifth vamp. Sookie's jaw dropped as she saw Lafayette transform.

"I couldn't believe it, either," Sam said to Sookie. Now her gaze shifted to him but her mouth stayed open.

The sixth vampire saw the plight of his companions and ran like hell… that left only the witch.

It took Eric no time at all to grab her and disable her with the element of surprise on his side. No one asked where the rope to bind her or the duct tape for her mouth had come from. Clearly the Viking meant to bring his prize back to Sophie-Anne.

It was over, Peggy realized with some relief.


	13. Chapter 13

Sam fell on his ass as Angelo pushed him aside, grabbing the sharp stake out of Sookie's hand and shoving it into the chest of the vampire who was attacking them. A gush of blood showered the red-haired young man, but Angelo wasn't hurt. Sam turned his head to see Lafayette shifting into a huge black dog. Despite the fact that he had seen his friend and employee do this several times before, it still made him gasp aloud.

Canine Lafayette growled at the surprised vampire he was facing down and leapt forward. The vampire struck him and Lafayette fell to the side with a whine of pain, but immediately was back on his feet…er, paws…and attacked again. His powerful jaws clamped down on the vampire's throat and with a snap, Lafayette had torn his neck open. Another crunch and the bone broke, beheading the fiend.

The battle in the cemetery was over in minutes. Angelo turned to Sam, offered him a hand to pull him to his feet.

"You okay, Sam?" he demanded.

"Yeah…" Sam nodded. But he wished he'd been more help.

The group from Bon Temps stood surrounding the bound and gagged witch. Eric snarled, his fangs glittering sharply in his mouth, kicked her, put his foot on her rump. He drew his foot back to kick her again but Sookie put her hand on his arm.

"No…" Sookie said.

"We have to bring her to the Queen," said Bill.

"Why do we have to bring her alive?" Eric asked coldly.

"For once I agree with this mo'fucka," said Lafayette. He was human again. And very naked. Sam tried not to peek at his gorgeous body.

"Make sure you keep the tape on her mouth," Peggy said softly. "If she cannot say the words, she cannot harm us. Her magic is…it's…"

"It's in her voice," said Sookie, who could read the witch's mind. "Her spells have to be said aloud."

"Then why didn't she cast a spell in the first place?" Sam wondered aloud.

"She thought her lil vampires could take us," Lafayette scoffed, earning himself a dirty look from the undead who were present.

"Never make the mistake of underestimating vampires," Eric said softly. "That's what this witch did. And if she's dead, she can't cast any spells at all, can she?"

"Cain't kill her til we get dat spell off Sam an' Lafayette an' Peggy. Dey still in trouble, dem," Angelo told Eric fiercely.

"You may have a point," said Eric, "But I do not have to like it."

Sam frowned. "I'm fine, Angelo," he said.

"No, Sam," Angelo said. "You not."

"Eric healed me," Peggy insisted.

"Your body is healed, but there's more," Eric said softly. Peggy looked at him in surprise. "Trust me, darling."

Peggy nodded slowly. Sam had no idea why anyone would trust Eric, but he couldn't deny that she did. He wondered what was wrong with him that Angelo could see but he hadn't. Eric picked up the flailing but secured witch and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Margaret, if you will escort everyone back to Santiago's apartment," Eric instructed.

"Of course," Peggy agreed. Eric rose into the sky, flying with his captive. Sam shuddered. He would never get used to seeing such a thing. He followed Peggy and the rest out of the cemetery and into the French Quarter.

Angelo grabbed Sam's hand and held it. This seemed a very fine thing, indeed. Sam felt a lightness steal over him that betrayed the grave situation. Through the Quarter they went, and Sam was a bit more at ease. Whatever had happened to them all would be undone, he had no doubt, if Eric, Santiago, and Sophie-Anne had anything to do with it. He watched the way Angelo moved, light on his feet, like a cat. The young man drove Sam wild.

Sam wished they could slip away together. Maybe go to a bar. Somewhere they could be lost together, where Sam could kiss Angelo and press their bodies together. Sam was craving Angelo's heat. Angelo glanced at Sam.

"I like what you thinkin', Sam Merlotte, but it gotta wait."

"Oh, how do you know what I'm thinkin'"

"It in your eyes."

"Yeah?"

Angelo smiled. "Jes wait. I promise it all be all right."

"Okay, then," said Sam.

They reached Santiago's apartment on the corner of Royal and Dumaine in no time, heading up the stairs into the elegant flat. For the first time Sam wondered about the mysterious vampire Christopher Santiago. He seemed to have everything. A lovely home, handsome young men by the score, and immortality – not that Sam wished for that himself. And yet, Sam sensed that he wasn't happy.

"You're covered in blood," Santiago cheerfully told Angelo as he opened the door for them, slipping closer to the young man than Sam liked. Then the brash vampire frowned. "Vampire blood."

"Angelo is pretty good with a stake," Sam said coldly, meeting the vampire's black gaze.

"Sam," said Santiago, and suddenly Sam was caught in those inky eyes. Whatever Christopher told him, he would obey.

Just as suddenly it was broken as Angelo grabbed Santiago's arm and shook him. "Don't you dare glamour Sam!"

Santiago sighed and looked at Angelo, shaking his head. "You used to be fun. Besides, you know that soon enough I won't be able to."

Meanwhile, Eric had delivered his burden to the Queen of Louisiana.

"Won't the spells be reversed upon her death?" Sam heard Andre say as they entered Santiago's elegant living room.

"Does it matter if they aren't?" Sophie-Anne asked.

"No," Eric said.

"Yes," said Angelo, glaring at Eric. Peggy moved to her lover's side and Eric slid an arm around her waist possessively. The queen rolled her eyes at this gesture.

"Yes, Eric," said Sookie. "It does matter, and she doesn't think her death will free them."

Sam knew that Sookie was reading the mind of the witch, and probably that of every human in the room, not that there were many. Sookie suddenly turned and looked at him.

"Really, Sam?"

"Really what?" Sam asked nervously.

"You think you're gay."

"I am gay, Sookie. You've known that for years."

Sookie just shook her head. "Well that explains Anne Marie," she said.

"What about my wife?" Lafayette demanded, dog becoming man.

"I'm not sure which is worse," Sookie said, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Sookie, you're not making any sense," said Sam.

"We cannot simply loose the mouth of this witch," Eric said. "She will only cast spells on others of us."

"What if she did?" Santiago asked thoughtfully. "What if you thought you were no vampire. Would you be human, then?"

Eric considered. "I don't wish to be human."

"Do you think Sam wished to be gay?" asked Sookie.

"I was born this way," said Sam and didn't understand why this was met with so many eye rolls.

"Well," said Sophie-Anne. "We can't un-gag her, and not everyone agrees that killing her is the most expedient solution. So then what?" And incredulously, she looked at Sookie.

"We will have to bargain with her," Sookie insisted, but then she shifted nervously. Her hand shaking, she reached out and rested her fingers on the witch's shoulder. She kept them there for only a moment before she jerked them back. She looked at Christopher… then at Angelo. "Simone," she whispered.

"Where is Simone?" Christopher demanded.

"I'm… I'm sorry," said Sookie.

"He dead?" Angelo asked flatly.

"She sold him to… to drainers," said Sookie.

And that was it for Christopher. He launched himself on the pink-haired, helpless female. He ripped her head off quite literally and was showered in her blood, stained all of his elegant furniture. His grief was a howl that swirled through the room, and Sam felt himself stumbling backwards with the force of it.

Angelo sank to his knees and wept.

Sam felt as though he were hit by a truck as the witch died. He was in a hail storm of glitter and words spoken backwards in Latin. He as flying backwards through time and space and not moving at all.

He saw Peggy collapse into Eric's arms. Bill grabbed for Sookie, but Sookie seemed fine, one of the few pillars in the room. As the magical wind swirled around them, only Sookie, Sophie-Anne and Andre were unscathed.

Lafayette held out a hand. Grasped Sam's shoulder. Sam felt something like a surge of electricity, and with it came an overwhelming understanding. The two of them fell to the floor.


	14. Chapter 14

"Margaret."

Eric's voice came through the glittery blackness and jolted her. Peggy forced her eyes open. It seemed to take all of her will. He was holding her in his arms, in the middle of Santiago's bloody living room. She had only been out a few seconds. Eric eased her to her feet.

"Thank you," she said softly. Eric nodded. He didn't take his hands off of her and she found this comforting.

"Christopher, you have absolutely no self control!" Sophie-Anne snapped. "I ought to put your head on a pike."

Christopher, covered with blood, still choking the now-headless body of the witch, glared at the queen. "You wouldn't be the first to try," he snapped. "And right now I might not be inclined to stop you."

"Don't say that," Peggy murmured. "Please, Christopher."

"Sam… Sam… please wake up." Angelo knelt next to Sam, shaking him. Peggy became aware that both Sam and Lafayette were on the floor. She stared at Angelo for a long minute. Something was different about him, she thought.

And then she realized what it was. Her mouth dropped open. She looked up at Eric. "Eric… that's—"

"Yes," said Eric, and there was both amusement and relief in his tone. "So, the curse is broken. You can see again."

Peggy laughed. "I hope that means that Sam and Lafayette and un-cursed as well."

"I can't wake up Sam…"

"Give it time," said Sophie-Anne more gently than Peggy would have expected. She waved a hand at Bill and Andre, and they helped move Sam into one of the back bedrooms, the Cajun red-head following. When the two vampires returned, they moved the still-nude Lafayette as well.

"You probably recovered more quickly as you are vampire," Eric told Peggy. She nodded vaguely, watching Christopher. Her maker sat down on one of the now-bloodstained sofas, resting his dark head in his crimsoned hands. His face was twisted in pain over the loss of his lover, Simone. Peggy knew that being taken by drainers was one of the worst fates available to a vampire.

Sookie looked like she was going to be sick.

"Eric, can we get rid of the body?" Peggy asked.

"Mortals. Everything bothers them," sighed Sophie-Anne. She waved a hand to her body guards and they began cleaning up the remains of the witch rather sulkily. Christopher sat still, unmoving, not seeming to know or care what was happening in his apartment. Peggy wanted to go to him and offer comfort, but she knew there was nothing that she could do or say to make this any better.

Bill took his new bride in his arms and held Sookie. "May we go now?" he asked Sophie-Anne in his politest tone. "We are…on our honeymoon… and Sookie has found all of this very upsetting."

"I can't have drainers running around in my city," said Sophie-Anne, "Or even in my state."

"No," Eric agreed. "They need to be found and dealt with."

"Great, you can handle it then, Sheriff," said the queen. "Bill will help you."

"But—" Bill started, but after a look from Sophie-Anne he shut his mouth.

"Well, great," said Sookie bitterly.

"Don't you think Santiago should help?" Eric asked. "After all, he will be wanting to get his hands on those drainers quite badly. Not to mention he has quite a circle of progeny."

Sophie-Anne considered. She glanced at Andre, who nodded his agreement. "I have been generous in letting Christopher create vampires," she said.

Peggy felt Eric stiffen and knew he was still angry that Sophie-Anne had prevented him from making her a vampire himself, which was how she had wound up one of Christopher's progeny herself.

"I would be glad to help," Santiago said through clenched fangs. "In fact, you are unlikely to be able to stop me."

"Do we even know where to begin?" Peggy asked.

"You will stay out of it," Eric said.

"Excuse me?"

"You are just what drainers like," Eric hissed. "A young vampire is easy to overpower…to trick."

"You think I'm easy to trick?" Peggy demanded.

"All of Christopher's progeny are to be available to use as bait," Sophie-Anne told Eric, "Including her."

"No," said Eric, "I forbid it."

"You what?" asked Andre in a soft, deadly tone and both of the queen's body guards looked expectant.

Eric ground his teeth together and gripped Peggy tightly. She became aware that he was afraid for her, that he was not being stubborn just because she was a "helpless female" but because he genuinely feared for her safety.

"I will be fine, Eric," she promised.

"I have lots of other progeny, Northman," Christopher said, looking up for the first time in several minutes. "We don't have to risk Margaret."

"Then again, using her might mean the both of you will be more motivated to solve this problem," Sophie-Anne said cheerfully.

"Forgive my impertinence, but I am plenty motivated," Christopher said bitterly.

"Of course," the queen replied coolly.

"Why don't you be the bait?" Sookie suggested to the queen. Bill tried to shush her, but Peggy knew as well as any of them that Sookie was un-shush-able. "Wouldn't that be the biggest temptation of all to a drainer? The most ancient blood in New Orleans?"

None of the vampires dared respond, including Peggy herself. They all looked at Sophie-Anne to see what she would say.

The queen laughed. "Possibly."

"It's not an option," Andre said. "Our society would be endangered if Sophie-Anne were lost. Another vampire would take over the kingdom, and when that happens they generally rid themselves of all of the others in the area… especially the Sheriffs." He looked meaningfully at Eric.

"It's not an option," Eric agreed quickly.

"I will be the bait my own damned self," Christopher said. "Why risk those of you who have something worth continuing for?"

"You're really torn up about Simone, aren't you?" Sophie-Anne replied curiously. "Well, forgive me, but I didn't think you had it in you, Christopher."

"No one did," Eric said.

Christopher shrugged. "I have rarely cared what anyone thought of me."

"That's part of your charm," Peggy said sincerely. Eric shifted jealously next to her and she tapped his hand lightly.

"I know that Anne Marie and Sam will help, too," said Sookie. "And of course Bill and I will."

"The shifters? What can they do? Your skill will come in handy, however," said Sophie-Anne. "You will be useful for identifying the drainers."

"We just need to know where to start," said Eric.

"That's easy," said Christopher. "Simone said he was going to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop the last night I saw him."

"What's that?" Sookie asked.

"It's a very old bar," Christopher replied.

"It's too late to go now," said Bill. "Dawn is only a couple of hours away."

"Fine, fine, fine. Start tomorrow at sunset," said Sophie-Anne.

"As you wish, Madam," said Christopher. The bitterness and sadness in his tone broke Peggy's heart. He was truly suffering. "Please avail yourselves of my apartment," he said, then turned and strode off down the hallway.

"Sookie and I will get back to our hotel," said Bill. The queen waved them away, then took her own leave with Andre and her guards. Eric steered Peggy to the bedroom that had used the day before.

"We should clean the living room," Peggy said. Eric looked at her in surprise.

"Why?"

"For Christopher," she said.

"You care for him too deeply," Eric said.

"Perhaps," Peggy agreed, then she turned and went to find the necessary cleaning products to get the blood out of the rug and furniture. She was not surprised, after looking through the kitchen, that Santiago had the proper items and chemicals on hand. This was not the first blood spilled here. She busied herself in doing what she could to set the room to rights.

After a few minutes, Eric joined her without a word. Before they headed to bed at dawn, there was no sign that a murder had taken place there.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam Merlotte was floating down a long, dark tunnel. His head was aching, throbbing in time with his pulse. Flickers of light danced behind his closed eyelids, and he felt that it would take a superhuman effort to open his eyes. In fact, he was not entirely sure that he wanted to open them. He suspected that there were a few things he needed to sort out first.

He knew he was awakening from what was no ordinary sleep. He forced himself to recall how he had come to be in such a weakened state. It took a few minutes to summon the events of the night before… or whenever it had been. Sam was not sure how much time had passed.

The witch, he thought. Pink hair. They had never even learned her name or why she had chosen to attack them before Christopher Santiago had killed her. Why had Santiago committed such a bold murder in the middle of his living room?

Oh yes. The witch had killed Santiago's lover, Simone. Anne Marie's brother. Anne Marie. Sam's wife. Angelo's cousin. Angelo. Oh, shit.

Sam's eyes flicked open and he stared into a familiar face. The shock of what he was seeing made him want to laugh with relief.

"Sam!"

Sam licked at his lips and tried to say something, but his throat was dry. He was lying in bed in the same bedroom Santiago had put him in the day before. Someone had undressed him. He was wearing only his undershorts.

"I…"

"Have some water, you."

Sam was given a blessedly cold glass. He sat up slowly and took a few tentative sips, then drank it down thirstily, a drop of liquid escaping his parched mouth and sliding down his chin. When he finished, he set the glass on the bedside table.

"Anne Marie," he said.

"Yes, dawlin'?" His wife beamed at him broadly, her bright green eyes reflecting his own sensation of relief. She was sitting on the bed beside him.

"It was you all along."

"Yes."

"You… are Angelo."

"M'glad you ken see dat now, Sam," Anne Marie said sensibly. "I am sick t'death of this disguise."

She pulled off her Bloody Mary's t-shirt and Sam saw the thick bandage that she had used to strap her breasts down. How he had failed to recognize her was beyond him – something he could only chalk up to the pink witch's black magic.

"Why did you do this?" Sam asked, reaching up to trace the bandage with his fingers, amazed that she could flatten out such marvelous appendages.

"You wanted a boy."

"So you became one."

"Yes, Sam. Wasn't gonna let a little prick come between us."

Chuckling, Sam pulled her up against him and kissed her for all he was worth. While his mouth seduced hers, he untied the bandage and let her glorious treasure spill free into his fingers.

"How could we not have known you?" Sam murmured as he began to kiss and lick and nibble at her abundant charms. Anne Marie arched her back, tossed her head, sighed with pleasure.

"You…Peggy…Lafayette…you was under dat curse. Ever'one else, dey knew," she said, and Sam felt foolish. Though his fingers still stroked and pleasured her, he lifted his face.

"How could I not have known my own wife?"

"Sam," Anne Marie said tenderly, "It doesn't matter. You still loved me… even though you didn't know who I was."

It was true, Sam thought, and then he beamed happily. It was true. He had thought himself in love with "Angelo" only because Angelo was Anne Marie. He had known her without knowing her.

"Our love is stronger than any curse," he said slowly. Then another bolt of panic hit. "Where's our daughter?"

"Granmawmaw takin' care of her," Anne Marie assured him. "Don' worry. Belle, she jest fine."

"And the bar!"

"Terry an' Arlene runnin' the bar. Can you shift again?"

"I need a picture, at least."

"I got one." Anne Marie pulled out a photo of Dean the dog snapped in Merlotte's parking lot.

Sam tried it. He slipped out of his boxers and concentrated on his go-to shift, the collie. It took an extra minute, but then he managed. He barked happily then became human again. Sam sighed with relief. "So…"

"So you come back to me and we got dis nice soft bed…" Anne Marie smiled seductively.

Sam chuckled. "So we do. Would be a shame to waste it."

He kissed her, and Anne Marie kissed him back, and soon they were together in the right way, the perfect way, the only way.

Afterwards, sated, happy, and feeling blessedly relieved that he was back to normal, Sam cuddled Anne Marie against him. At least she had been there for him. He wondered if he would have found himself in bed with a real male if she hadn't. Sam shuddered, flashing back on the erotic dreams he used to have about Bill several years earlier, after Bill had given him blood.

Anne Marie stroked Sam's hair. "We all good now," she murmured.

"Can we go home?" Sam asked plaintively. "I miss Belle."

Anne Marie took a deep breath. "We got to catch dem drainers, first. Avenge Simone."

Simone.

Anne Marie's gentle, sweet, vampire brother was dead. Of course she wanted revenge… and so did Santiago.

"I wonder if they made a plan yet," Sam said thoughtfully.

"One way to find out."

They slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower that lasted longer than either had intended, then dressed and padded out to the living room. Sam became aware that the sun was just setting so the vampires had not yet emerged.

"Someone clean dis room," Anne Marie said thoughtfully. "No blood. No… witch."

"Perhaps it was Margaret," Santiago mused, appearing from Sam knew not where. He tried not to appear startled, but he was. The trickster vampire saw this and smiled, but the smile was strained. Santiago was suffering. He really had loved Simone.

Every other time Sam had met Christopher Santiago, he had been dressed to the nines in eveningwear complete with top hat. Today he was in red satin pajamas and a dark grey smoking jacket, as if he couldn't bring himself to get dressed. He sat on the edge of one of his antique sofas, looking vague and sad.

Sam might have felt sorry for him, if he didn't remember so sharply what the wicked vampire was truly like.

On second hand, maybe he did feel just a bit sorry for him. After all, Simone had no doubt been a good influence on him. Sam had liked Anne Marie's brother. This was the second one she had lost, of the five. She also clearly was brimming with sympathy for Santiago, for she went and sat just next to him. Santiago gathered her up under his arm and pulled her close, and a gleam in his eye put Sam right back on edge.

Eric smirked as he entered the room and took in the situation. Sam moved his glare from Santiago to the Viking. Peggy was right behind him, looking beautiful, pale and somber.

"We need to start tonight," she said without preamble.

"Call your young vampires," Eric told Santiago. "They can be the bait."

Margaret sighed. "I am perfectly willing to do it," she said. "After all, I need to learn to hunt in public."

"But you don't," said Santiago. "I can always provide donors for you."

"Not when I go home to Bon Temps," Peggy pointed out.

"We need Sookie," said Santiago. He had begun to stroke Anne Marie's hair, and as if she had suddenly realized how cuddly he was getting with her, she stood up and moved to Sam's side.

"I texted Bill," said Eric. "They will meet us at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop."

"We should put as many of your people in dat bar as we can," Anne Marie told Christopher. "Den if Sookie ken identify dem drainers, easier to catch'em."

"I'll call my boys," Santiago said. He got up, kissed her on the cheek, then drifted away, to find his telephone, Sam guessed. Anne Marie looked at Sam, and Sam suppressed his annoyance with the dark vampire. The smile that rewarded him made it all worthwhile.

"We won't let anything happen to Peggy," Sam said to Eric. The tall, blond vampire nodded tersely, but he made no reply.

"Thank you, Sam," Peggy said. "How are you?"

"Back to normal, I think," he said. He smiled with a hint of embarrassment as everything he had done, had said, came rushing back to him. "Did Lafayette really turn into a dog?"

Peggy nodded. "I wonder if he can still do it," she mused. "And you?"

"He back to normal," said Anne Marie, beaming.

"Good dog," said Santiago, returning from the kitchen.


	16. Chapter 16

At a small, candlelit table in the ramshackle building on Bourbon Street, Peggy sat across from Sookie Stackhouse Compton, both of them trying to look as if they were having a good time. Sookie had a plastic cup filled with something called Pirate's Punch in it, no doubt named after Jean Lafitte's claim to fame. Peggy had a True Blood, since the object of their visit to the famous bar was to call attention to the fact that she was a vampire.

Sam and Anne Marie were at a table not far from the one she shared with Sookie. Anne Marie was mercifully dressed in a feminine style once more, and Peggy felt vaguely embarrassed that she had not been able to recognize her friend when she had been in disguise as 'Angelo.' Eric had told her it was due to the side effects of the spell the witch had cast over her that had flung her to New Orleans. Peggy still thought it was pretty stupid.

She hadn't forgotten that she had attacked one of her best friends and drunk her blood. Anne Marie was the first human from whom Peggy had fed. The one who taught her that True Blood could never, ever compare. Peggy picked up her bottle and took a long swallow. She was dreaming of blood now, of hunting. She knew she needed Eric to teach her. She was afraid of going too far. She did not want to accidentally kill, as so many young vampires did at first.

Eric, Bill, and Christopher were each scattered through the bar, each sitting with one of Christopher's humans. They were bait as surely as Peggy was. Personally, she thought that Eric would be the most enticing. He looked exactly like what he was – a Viking, and a vampire. Though his features were handsome and youthful, no one could mark him for anything but ancient.

Maybe she was biased, Peggy mused, as she tried not to turn and glance at him over her shoulder. She was purposefully positioned so she could not see him, just as Sookie could not see Bill. Their connection would be too obvious if she could.

Like a soothing touch, she felt him in her mind. Never had she been so grateful for the bond they had forged in blood. She could not doubt his affection for her now, either. She could feel his possessiveness, and at the moment it was quite comforting. Eric would do everything in his power to keep her safe. She would do the same for him.

Christopher's young vampires, the many progeny he had spawned with Sophie-Anne's blessing, had almost all stayed behind at his apartment, guarding Lafayette. Peggy wondered vaguely who was guarding Lafayette from them… but she did trust Christopher, and if he said the Merlotte's cook would be safe, then he would be.

There were other vampires in the bar, as well. Christopher had nodded to one or two of them. He was well-known. They seemed mostly to be vacationing in the Big Easy. It was well known that you couldn't throw a rock in New Orleans without hitting a vampire (but you wouldn't want to.)

"I'm sorry about your wedding," Peggy said to Sookie. "The blood and all. But it was still beautiful…"

Sookie smiled glumly. "No, it wasn't," she said, then laughed. "But it's done. Bill and I are hitched."

"Are you happy?"

"Yes," said Sookie. "Though I'd be a lot happier if we could have had a little more privacy on our honeymoon."

"You should have gone to Hawaii," Peggy said.

"We talked about it, but we'd have had to go Anubis Air." Anubis was an airline that shipped vampires safely in their coffins. "I just wanted to do something where Bill and I could travel together." Sookie sounded wistful.

"Does it distract you if I talk?" Peggy asked. They were supposed to be doing a job.

Sookie shook her head. "No. Nothing really keeps it out of my head except strong…concentration."

"Bill taught you that?"

"Yes, and I'm really grateful for it," Sookie said quietly. She picked up her drink and sipped it, then made a face. "Do people really like these?"

Peggy smiled. "That, I cannot tell you." She lifted her True Blood. "I find it hard to believe that vampires really like these."

Sookie grew serious. "Are you going to stop drinking them…now?"

Peggy sighed. "I don't know. Not completely, I don't think."

"What about Eric?"

"I have no say over what Eric does."

Sookie laughed. "Of course you do. He really wants to please you. If you tell him not to—"

"I'd never tell him not to," Peggy interrupted.

"It must be hard…" Sookie trailed off and frowned.

"In some ways, you and Bill are lucky," Peggy said, "But I think I prefer things with Eric the way that they are."

"You mean… being a vampire."

Peggy nodded. "Yes. It feels more even. More level playing ground. No offense."

"None taken." Sookie smiled. "I suppose what matters is that we're both happy."

"You're absolutely right. I'll be happier if we find whoever did this, though. For Christopher. And for Anne Marie."

"Poor Simone," Sookie said miserably.

They both fell silent, and Peggy sipped her drink, watching Sookie, wondering what she was hearing from the other bar patrons.

"Mostly they're just thinking about sex," Sookie confided after several long, tense minutes. "With…with vampires."

Peggy grinned. "I can't blame them."

"Me neither."

"But no… no one contemplating doing other things to vampires?"

"Not yet."

"Buy you a drink, ladies?" Suddenly beside their table stood what could only be called tall, dark, and handsome. Peggy had to fight not to wince as she felt Eric's jealousy from behind her.

"Werewolf," Sookie blurted.

He grinned, and if Peggy had wondered, she didn't any longer. The animal in him was just below the surface. And yet, he was nicely dressed, in pressed, neat jeans and a light blue button down shirt, open at the collar. A crisp curl of chest hair peeked out. He had a dark five o'clock shadow but it only accentuated his attractive looks.

"I hope you're a fan," he said teasingly. "Pirate's Punch and a True Blood? No, you haven't touched that punch. Let me get you something you'll like better."

The werewolf disappeared to the bar and Peggy looked at Sookie, arching an eyebrow.

"Can you read him?"

"Werewolves are hard," said Sookie. "Maybe if I touch him."

"I think getting him to let you will be easy enough," Peggy teased. Sookie's cheeks reddened.

"Eric looks like he's about to explode," Sookie told her.

"Really?"

"Don't turn around!"

The werewolf returned with the drinks, setting the True Blood down in front of Peggy, a glass of wine for Sookie and one for himself. He flipped the extra chair at the table around backwards and straddled it like a cowboy, then grinned rakishly. "I'm Brent," he said.

"I'm Peggy, this is Sookie."

"Is she your human?" Brent asked, not taking his eyes off of Sookie.

"Yes, I am," said Sookie, lifting her chin. "I'm hers."

"Try the wine," said Brent. "It's a Sauvignon Blanc, from New Zealand. I think it will suit you."

Sookie lifted the glass and sipped, to be polite. Her expression quickly turned to one of delight. "It's good."

"Vampires don't know much about wine," said Brent, smirking.

"But we know plenty about obnoxious males," Peggy snapped. "Perhaps you should move along…Brent."

"Now, now, ice princess, I didn't mean to offend," said the werewolf, lifting up both hands.

"Do you live in New Orleans, Brent?" Sookie asked. She reached out to put her hand on his sleeve, but not seeing the gesture, he chose that moment to pick up his own glass and take a sip.

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Brent. "Do you need a tour guide? Maybe… in the daytime?"

"Maybe," said Sookie, forcing a smile.

Peggy thought that it was unlikely that the werewolf was a drainer if he was more interested in Sookie than in her. She picked up her True Blood and sipped it, tuning out of the "hey baby, what's your sign" conversation. She looked around the room, to see if anyone was talking to any of the other vampires.

Inadvertently, Peggy's eyes met Sam's. He grinned at her, and she realized that he was close enough to hear most of the conversation with the werewolf despite the loud music. He was amused by the whole thing. Bill looked far less amused. Christopher looked distracted. And Eric, though she couldn't see him, felt much more relaxed once he realized that the man was busy hitting on Sookie and not on Peggy.

"So why don't you ditch the dead dame and take a walk with me," Brent suggested to Sookie.

"What makes you think I'll let her?" Peggy asked.


	17. Chapter 17

"Cher, dis place would be where you might pass a good time if we weren't on dis bad mission," Anne Marie said, smiling at Sam from across the table. "Bit more tourist than Merlotte's but sometime dat ain't bad."

Sam smiled back at his red-haired wife. "You know what, I think I agree with you," he said. "I like New Orleans, once in a while. I just wish we could come here one time without, you know, some big disaster happening."

Anne Marie laughed. "When you right, you right." She lifted her drink and toasted Sam. Anne Marie had gotten an Abita, the local beer, but Sam had wanted a White Russian. It was ungodly sweet but also creamy and delicious. Maybe some of his enchanted nature had rubbed off on him. That thought made him shudder.

"There's a werewolf making a beeline for Sookie and Peggy," Sam said suddenly, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Think he could be… you know?" Anne Marie asked.

"Gay?" Sam blurted.

"Sam, you sure dat spell wore off?"

"Sorry… uh, you meant…drainer."

"Was tryin' to not say it, me."

Sam smiled lamely. "Yeah. You know, I suppose it's possible. He doesn't look like a drug dealer to me, though."

Anne Marie nodded. They both fell silent as they tried to eavesdrop on the conversation at the next table. Sam was glad that Sookie was smart enough to claim to belong to Peggy.

"I think he's harmless," he told Anne Marie softly.

"Ain't no such thing as a harmless werewolf!"

"That's not what I meant, exactly."

"I know, I know."

Peggy finally convinced the werewolf that his attentions were unwanted, and snarling slightly, he moved along. The rest of the evening passed without a hint of excitement, and finally Eric gave the nod that they all could leave. They weren't supposed to go together, so Peggy and Sookie went first. Sam and Anne Marie followed a few moments later. They turned the corner and headed to where they were going to meet the two blonds when Sam saw the werewolf slip out of the shadows and start following them. Sam stopped dead in his tracks.

"If he's the drainer, we can't let him see us," Sam said urgently.

"I agree," said Christopher grimly, slipping up beside Sam and Anne Marie with Bill and two of his humans. "Marco, Harrison, go back into the bar. Take a cab home in half an hour. And tell Eric to get out here."

"I'm right here," said Eric and the humans melted back into Lafitte's. "What is going on?"

"Looks like we have trouble," said Bill. "We should wait and see if—"

"No," said Eric, and he sped down the street to catch up with Peggy and Sookie and the werewolf.

"He's not very good at this, is he?" Santiago harrumphed, and stalked after him. Bill followed and Sam grabbed Anne Marie's hand and headed towards them as well. By the time they got to where the girls were standing, Sam caught sight of one very surprised werewolf.

"So you think you can take on one vampire. How about taking on me?" Eric said. His voice was soft but the look on his face was frightening.

"Hey man, I didn't know she was with someone," Brent the werewolf said uneasily, holding up his hands. He had calculated his odds against the group and decided to play it safe. He was obviously trying to hold back his anger. "I just wanted to get to know the human. There's something about her." He licked his lips. Santiago put a hand on Bill's shoulder.

"That will not be possible," Bill said, his voice an angry Southern twang. "I suggest you move along."

"Wait," said Santiago. "Perhaps he can answer some questions for us."

"I have very little to say to vampires," Brent sneered. He looked like he would have loved to stalk off, but Eric, Bill, and Christopher had somehow surrounded him on one side, Sookie and Peggy on the other. Suddenly his nose quivered and he looked at Sam and Anne Marie. "Shifters."

"Dat's right," said Anne Marie, "And I suggest you talk wid dese here vampires, Loup Garou."

"I haven't done anything wrong," Brent snarled. "This is some sort of set up."

"That's right," said Santiago in a chilling tone, "It is."

"We have a big pack in this city," Brent snapped.

"Is that a threat?" Eric asked menacingly.

"Vampires outnumber werewolves three to one in New Orleans," said Bill. He smiled at Sookie. "I read that in our guide book."

"Please," said Sookie, appealing to Brent. "I'm sorry Peggy and I led you on. We really are looking for some information, and maybe you can help us."

"Since you asked so nicely?" Brent replied, though some of the anger eased out of him. He really was attracted to Sookie, Sam thought, and he supposed he couldn't blame him.

"It would really help," said Sookie. "I'd be really grateful."

"How grateful?"

"Not that grateful," said Bill, stepping up next to Sookie.

"This is my husband, Bill Compton," Sookie said.

"Great." Brent looked at Peggy. "I suppose you're married, too."

"Close," said Eric, folding his arms across his chest. Brent rolled his eyes.

"Fine," said tersely. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Have you heard of any vampire drainers doing business in New Orleans?" Sookie asked. She reached out and put a hand on Brent's arm, trying to look casual. Sam knew that she'd have a better chance of reading the werewolf's thoughts this way. Brent didn't try to pull away. In fact, he grinned at Sookie, well, wolfishly. Enough so to make Bill stiffen.

Brent looked thoughtful, then he shrugged. "Maybe."

"He knows a guy who knows a guy," Sookie said. Now the werewolf pulled his arm back from Sookie.

"The hell? What are you, some kind of mind reader?"

"I'm a telepath," said Sookie. "Please, you have to give us the name of your friend."

"I don't want to be responsible for getting a buddy killed," Brent said.

"You don't want to have a friend who is selling vampire blood," said Christopher. "Now you can tell us the name now, or you can come with us and we can convince you in a less pleasant manner."

"No torture," Sookie said fiercely.

"You'd fucking torture me?" Brent yelped.

"No," said Sookie.

"Why not?" said Eric.

"Look. There's a dude who sells V in some of the gay bars… Napoleon's Itch, Bourbon Pub, Parade."

"What is his name?" Bill asked softly.

"He goes by Toxic," Brent said. "That's all I know."

"You ever buy any V?" asked Santiago.

"No!"

"He's not lying," said Sookie. "That's all he knows. Thank you, Brent, you've been really helpful."

Brent didn't look included to say they were welcome. "Can I go?"

"Of course. You were always free to go," said Santiago, stepping aside, waving his hand in an expansive gesture.

"Uh-huh, right."

"Keep this to yourself," said Eric.

"Fuck you!" Brent strode down the street, trying to look macho, Sam supposed, and loping so fast that he was nearly at a run.

"Tomorrow night we'll split up and hit those three bars," Santiago said.

"I don't think it's a good idea to split up," Bill said. "After all, we'll need Sookie to talk to this Toxic."

"If she's not with the one who finds him, we will bring him somewhere he can be—"

"Tortured?" Sookie demanded, putting her hands on her hips as she interrupted Eric.

"Dis guy mebbe kill my brother," said Anne Marie. "I say torture okay, me."

"Nobody has to be tortured," Bill said, backing up his wife. "Sookie just has to listen to the man's thoughts and then he can be turned over to the law."

"Or to the queen," said Santiago. "If we find whoever killed Simone, he will not be permitted to live."

"I still don't think we should split up," said Bill.

"It is faster," Christopher Santiago insisted.

"We can decide tomorrow," said Eric sensibly. "Unless we all wish to be standing here discussing it when the sun comes up."

With that he offered Peggy his arm and the two of them began walking away, back towards Santiago's apartment.


	18. Chapter 18

Peggy and Eric melted into the darkness together, leaving the rest of their party behind as they headed back to Christopher's apartment. She clung to Eric's arm, enjoying the closeness, feeling his mood lighten, shift away from the rest of the world and the troubles they were facing to the simple pleasure of being with her. Peggy bit back the urge to whisper the love words that bubbled to her mouth.

"I am glad you are back to normal," Eric said.

Peggy laughed. "I was just as affectionate with you as ever, unlike poor Sam."

"I found it interesting that the magic affected some aspects of him and not others," Eric said thoughtfully. "And, I am sorry you suffered. Sorry that hunting was thrust upon you."

"At least I didn't kill Anne Marie," Peggy said softly.

Eric stopped walking, dragging her to a halt right in the middle of the sidewalk, and putting his arms around her, facing her. He looked very serious, which made the fact that she wanted badly to kiss him so difficult.

"No," he said, "You did not. So forget this incident. Your friend already has. You have already learned quite successfully to glamour humans, and you can use that so they will let you feed from them. You need not be a killer."

"You will not think less of me?"

"Why would I?"

"What vampire is not a killer?"

Eric stroked her face and kissed her. "There are many who have never wanted to kill."

"But how many get by without it?"

"That, I do not know. Margaret, do not think on this too much. You have the strength and will to survive that sustains a vampire. There is no reason for you to learn to kill."

Peggy bit her lower lip softly, thinking. "Isn't it… inevitable?"

Eric tilted his head, frowning slightly. "How can I know this?"

"I suppose it was a rhetorical question." She smiled and reached up to touch his cheek. She felt a silent tremor in his pale flesh and knew her gentle action was causing him to desire her.

Eric kissed her again, this time more fiercely. It was a kiss of possession. He claimed her, and let her know he claimed her in that devouring dance of lips and tongue. Peggy pressed against him, clinging to him, tight in his arms, her arms around his waist, kissing him back just as fiercely, claiming him right back. The kiss went on and on, and it might not have ended before dawn if they had not been rudely interrupted.

Later she wished she had never caused Eric to stop walking in such a particularly shadowed doorway.

The pain of the silver chains that lassoed them was near unbearable. She had never before envisioned what it would like to have something sear into her flesh, like being bitten over and over by ferocious hounds. Peggy screamed and clung to Eric, heard him moan in pain, saw his face twist in utter agony. Married to that pain was anger.

"Two for the price of one," said a young man with a pitted face and green hair with dark roots. It looked as if it had once been in some sort of Mohawk but had grown out and not been properly tended and maintained.

"Pull off this chain at once and I might let you live," Eric hissed. He was gasping, despite the fact that he had no need for breath. Peggy knew it was his way of fighting the pain. She also knew he was pulling her closer to spare her the brunt of it. The chain went around her back and legs and they burned like cattle brands, but Eric had it worse, on his neck and arms as well.

Mohawk laughed. "Sure. Nah, you are walking liquid gold, and a spider in a cow barn couldn't be luckier than me. Archie, Vincent, push them in this way… help me get them down the stairs."

"You got it, Tox."

Peggy knew that when all three were free with their names, that they had no intention of letting her and Eric live. She could only hope that the rest of their friends, who had been right down the street behind them, would have seen their disappearance. She fought the pain, fought to keep her sanity.

Someone kicked at them, and she and Eric went rolling down a set of stairs. Each time she rolled onto the silver chains was a special sort of hell. Eric was growling in her ear, fighting the pain.

"Hurts," she whimpered.

"Shh," Eric said lovingly. "We'll be all right."

But this made their captors guffaw and snicker. "We got us some love birds," said the one Peggy had identified as Archie. He had greasy brown hair, a limp moustache and fifty extra pounds hung in a doughy tire around his midsection. "I could see me getting friendly with this bitch, before we drip her dry."

"You like stickin' your pecker in the freezer?" jeered Vincent. He was tall and almost handsome except for the scars across his dark face, and definitely not entirely human. Peggy glared up at him from the heap on the dusty floor they had landed on. They weren't very far down. There was no such thing as a cellar or underground in New Orleans… but wherever they were was dimly lit by gas lamps and had no windows.

"Lose a fight, werewolf?" Peggy sneered at him. He backhanded her and she snapped at him, almost getting a bite in with her fangs.

"Be careful, assholes," said Toxic. "I want to pull them apart without unwrapping them."

"Too dangerous," Archie said as he locked the outside door, shutting out Peggy's last view of starlight.

"You unchain that Viking even a little and we're all dog meat," said Vincent the werewolf. "Bitch we can handle."

"I can pay you," Eric said in a soft, reasonable voice. "Whatever amount you think you can get from selling our blood, I can pay you double."

More laughter came from the three scumbags. Peggy fought to keep from screaming. It hurt so badly.

"Even if I thought you had that kind of money, it wouldn't be worth it," said Toxic in a smooth voice.

"You like this!" Peggy accused. "You like killing—"

"Well isn't the pot calling the kettle black?" said Toxic.

"She doesn't kill," Eric raged. "Let her go, then, and keep me."

"Eric, no!"

More laughter from the captors.

"I think we got us Romeo and Juliet, boys. Well you two fangers can shut the fuck up, because no matter what shit you say, you aren't going nowhere. We're going to milk you, sell you, and set you out in the sun." Toxic smirked at them. "Don't think you can escape, neither, because this ain't our first time at the dance."

"I would never have thought so," Eric hissed icily. He was trying to catch the gaze of at least one of them, but they were all too cagey for that. They knew he would glamour them in a heartbeat.

"I still want to pull them apart," Toxic mused, studying them.

Peggy was lying on top of Eric, putting his weight on the chains. The ones on her back and legs burned horribly, but it was worse for him with both of them pressing down on the silver. She thought if she could roll to the side she might save him some pain, but after a moment of struggle she just realized she was making it worse for him.

"If you did," said Archie, licking his lips, "Could I have a crack at her?"

Toxic and Vincent looked nearly as disgusted as Peggy felt. But then Tox shrugged. "Sure, man, why not? It's your Johnson."

"If you touch her, I will rip it off and stuff it down your throat!" Eric roared. All he bought them was more laughter from the three.

"Sun will be up soon," Toxic said thoughtfully. "They'll be easier to handle, then."

And for the first time in a very long time, Peggy was afraid. There was no one to protect her, even though she was one of the strongest creatures on earth. Eric, who she had always seen as invincible, was in danger.

If they managed to kill Eric, she didn't want to live…or continue being dead but alive.

She couldn't give up now.

Not yet.

Oh, but if they took him from her, she would. They could rape her, drain her, cut her, break her… she didn't care. They just could not hurt Eric.

"Eric," she murmured.

"Shh, love," he murmured back.

For the first time, she wished her connection with Christopher Santiago was stronger. His gift, or perhaps his curse, of the blood was that his progeny were never bound to him. Their connection was tenuous at best.

Peggy closed her eyes and screamed out to her maker. Surely he would hear! Surely he would find them! They were mere blocks from his apartment, and he had been right behind them on the street. They even knew that Toxic was the man they were looking for. Eric's arms seemed to tighten around her even more.

Peggy wondered if the pain would stop when the sun came up and the two of them were plunged into unconsciousness.


	19. Chapter 19

Sam stopped dead in his tracks as he caught a whiff of something that was not quite right. The aroma of foul play, of mistreatment, hung in the air. Anne Marie, holding Sam's hand, was brought to a halt as well, and Sam had only a split second to try to figure out what he was smelling before Bill bumped into him from behind and Sookie slammed in to Anne Marie. Behind them, Sam heard Christopher chortling. Evidently he was lighter on his feet than Vampire Bill and hadn't been caught in the collision.

Anne Marie's green eyes widened and she looked at Sam. "I smell it too, me," she said in a low voice.

"Smell what?" asked Sookie.

"All I smell is garbage," Christopher Santiago sneered.

"Perhaps Sam has a better nose than you do," Bill said, his eyes shining with humor.

"Are we going to share?" Santiago asked impatiently.

"Not sure what it is," said Anne Marie, "But it sometin' bad."

"Well, that's helpful, pussycat," said Santiago. "Perhaps we should meander along. It's getting early."

"You vampires go on ahead," said Sam. "I think I want to stay out and look around."

"Me too." Anne Marie nodded.

Santiago looked perturbed. "I am not a fan of traffic traipsing in and out of my apartment during the day."

Sookie suddenly looked alarmed. "Drainer," she gasped. Sam saw her shut her eyes and rub her temples. She stumbled slightly and Bill caught her, holding her tenderly in his embrace.

"Where?" Bill asked urgently and at last Santiago decided to stop being (in Sam's opinion) a whining ass and give the situation his full attention.

"There's a werewolf nearby," Sam blurted out, "And he has a very bad…infection."

"I can't…I don't know," said Sookie. "I caught someone's thoughts nearby and then he just melted back into the crowd!"

The five of them stood at the intersection of Bourbon and Dumaine, where Santiago's apartment was, only a block away. Even though it was nearly dawn, revelers still crowded the French Quarter.

"You have to find him," Santiago said grimly. "But Bill and I have to go."

Sookie looked at Bill with a pleading expression. The Bon Temps vampire looked just as grim as his compatriot. He nodded. "You will be safe with Sam and Anne Marie. Just check around the immediate area and see if you can locate him. Then tomorrow night, perhaps a group of us can surprise him."

"All right," said Sookie.

"You will have to stay at Santiago's apartment. Once I am locked in the hotel room after dawn, I will not be able to let you in."

"Oh, Bill!" Sookie looked disappointed. "Well, all right. I love you."

"Good night," Bill told her tenderly. He kissed her forehead, then he and Christopher whirled off into the darkness.

"But what about the werewolf?" Sookie asked, watching her husband disappear.

"We can avoid him," Sam said. "His stench is a dead giveaway."

"It's not Brent, is it?" Sookie asked uncomfortably.

"No, we'd have picked that right up at Lafitte's."

"Why does he smell so bad?"

"He ver' sick, him," said Anne Marie.

"Maybe we should try to help him," Sookie suggested.

"Probably a bad idea," said Sam. "Come on, let's head back down Bourbon. See what you can… hear."

He looked up at the raucous bar on left side of the street and saw that it was called Parade. That was one of the places that Toxic was supposed to deal V at! Sam turned to explain this to Sookie and Anne Marie but they had already figured it out and were heading that way.

Sam remembered that Parade was a gay bar, if the pulsing disco music and buff young guys spilling out of the doorways hadn't reminded him, and he sighed inwardly. Anne Marie chuckled and winked at him, knowing that he was thinking about his rather embarrassing experience with "Angelo."

"Maybe we should get Lafayette to help us," he suggested.

"Lafayette isn't a telepath," Sookie pointed out as they made their way to a tired man wearing a pink cowboy hat and leopard print chaps, who was working the door.

"IDs, ladies," the bouncer drawled in a bored tone. He perked up when he saw Sam, and winked at him. "You can come right in, tiger."

"Ought to turn inta tiger an' bite him," Sam heard Anne Marie mutter as she dug in her purse for her driver's license.

"Oh, and there's a twenty-five dollar cover charge…"

"What?" Sam, Anne Marie, and Sookie all stared at him open-mouthed.

"Only for the ladies," the bouncer assured Sam.

Trying not to curse out loud, Sam dug in his jeans pocket and ponied up the money, despite both Anne Marie and Sookie protesting.

"This is important," Sam told them gently.

"Looks like he really wants to come in… or come out," the bouncer said, smirking.

Sam handed him the money and tried to smile, though he would have preferred to punch the glib man. He didn't want them kicked out before they got in. After all, this was for Simone. A glance at Anne Marie told Sam that she understood. She took his hand and squeezed it, tears glittering in her eyes.

"Lesbians. Always so emotional," said the bouncer, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as the three of them finally entered the bar.

The music was pulsing even louder inside, and Sam suspected he knew the song from one of Santiago's endless rotations of the new Lady Gaga CD. Two shirtless young men with sculpted torsos were dancing on the bar while old queens tucked bills into their tight jeans. Sam caught Anne Marie looking in her purse for a five but with a cheeky grin she put it away.

Colored lights flashed and winked, and the bar was doing a brisk trade even though the sun was about to rise outside. Sam urged Sookie to lead their tour through both the first floor and upstairs to the second to see if she could pick up any thoughts. When several sweeps of the place turned up negative, Sam led them to the bartender.

"What can I get you?"

"Crown Royal and coke." Sam decided top shelf was the way to go when asking for information. He paid with a twenty and left the change for the barman. When he turned back for the large tip, Sam beckoned him closer. "You know if a guy named Toxic comes in here?"

Immediate suspicion gave Sam his answer. "Who's asking?"

"A buddy of mine said to look him up if I was looking for party favors," Sam said.

"Oh yeah? What's your buddy's name?"

"Brent," Sam said, suddenly wishing he'd found out the werewolf's last name.

"I know six guys named Brent."

It occurred to Sam that if Brent had been hitting on Sookie and Peggy, he probably didn't frequent Parade. "You know him, then!" he tried, sounding enthusiastic.

Slowly the bartender nodded. "Tox was here, but he left. Maybe try back tomorrow night."

"Thanks!" said Sam. The bartender nodded and moved away. Sam hadn't touched his drink, but Anne Marie picked it up from the bar and knocked it back. Her fear and anger made her fingers tremble as she slammed the glass back down on the bar.

"We'll come back tomorrow," said Sookie, letting out a huge yawn. She looked slightly dazed, and Sam realized then just how tired he was, himself.

"All right," he said.

"Maybe we should bring Lafayette," Sookie acknowledged. "He's—good at talking to people."

Sam knew that Lafayette had a checkered past and after a brush with some vampires (he hadn't named names but Sam was a good guesser) he had given up his career in dealing V. He probably could pick Toxic out of a crowd as easily as Sookie could, though. Plus, if he was back to his old self, he would LOVE Parade. Although the thought of another $25 cover charge for each of the ladies made Sam grind his teeth together, they had to at least bring Sookie back.

Sam put a guiding hand on Anne Marie and Sookie's backs as the three of them left the bar, the bouncer managing to grope Sam's behind as they slid past him. Sam jumped, but decided not to share this little trespass with the others. He didn't want any more teasing about what he had done while he was not himself. The sun had risen fully while they were at Parade and Sam squinted, wishing he'd brought his sunglasses when they had gone out last night.

He remembered that he still had not really talked to Lafayette about what had happened to the both of them. Surely the Merlotte's cook would have some questions about the whole shifting business, but then again, he was probably very distracted by Santiago's young, handsome friends. Well, some of them were young and some no doubt only looked young. Sam knew that Christopher was bisexual, but he seemed only to keep male companions. He mused on this long enough to become uncomfortable, and by then they had arrived back at the trickster vampire's apartment.

It wasn't until after dark the next evening, when they convened to discuss what had happened after Bill and Christopher left, that everyone realized that Peggy and Eric had never made it home.


	20. Chapter 20

"Do you know that you're infected with a venereal disease?" Eric calmly asked the werewolf who was hovering over him. "I can smell it. Surely that's got to sting… in fact, I am not entirely certain your pants contain anything but rot."

The werewolf seemed irritated at first, probably because what Eric was saying was true – he smelled as foul as anyone Peggy had ever met – but then he smirked.

"Maybe you'll find out when I bang your girlfriend," Vincent growled.

Eric didn't react. Peggy knew he was playing a game with their captors, trying to wear them down or trick them so he could glamour them. He couldn't glamour the werewolf, of course, but Archie and Tox were fair game. One of them would slip up eventually. She had to believe that.

"No fair, Tox said I could have her," Archie, the human, whined.

"Shut up."

"Both of you shut up," said Toxic.

He came in through the one door at the top of the stairs, his greasy green and brown hair swinging in his face. He wore jeans with blown out knees, a black tank top, a leather jacket studded with safety pins and Converse hi-tops. He couldn't have passed his mid-twenties. Peggy thought he looked like he'd been rejected by the 80s punk movement.

Archie and Vincent had been guarding her and Eric since they'd awakened at sunset. They had both fallen into an unwanted but blessedly pain-free death-sleep shortly after dawn. Peggy knew that being older and more able to tolerate being awake during the daytime meant that Eric had suffered more and longer than her. At some point they had been dragged apart and Eric was now manacled to the wall in a standing position. Both arm and leg manacles were silver and held him tight against the wall.

Peggy was lying on a filthy, bloodstained cot. Silver chains held her arms and legs apart and attached to loops on the sides of the cot, and in addition a silver chain lay across her throat. Her skin burned where the silver was, and it took all of her strength not to go mad from the pain. She was glad to see that she was still clothed – they had not violated her in her sleep, however, that might have been better for surely she would face that tonight. She burned with shame at the thought that Eric would have to watch her be molested.

So far, however, Vincent and Archie had only stood around gossiping, apparently set to guard them until Toxic returned from… well, Peggy had no idea, and didn't care. All she cared about was trying to escape and to make sure Eric did, too. She already had determined from the conversation between their jailers that the werewolf had the keys to the silver manacles. She herself wasn't even locked… it was only the fierce heat of the silver that kept her helpless.

Toxic was back now, so she only figured the night was about to get worse. She looked over desperately at Eric. He was fighting to maintain a calm façade, but she knew he was furious and hurting. One chance and even the werewolf would be ripped to shreds. Peggy thought Archie was the weak link, the one they had the best chance of glamouring, but his friends seemed to know that as well and they had not been left alone with him.

"We gonna drain 'em now, boss?" Archie asked, chuckling maniacally.

"You asshole. You know we're going to have a sample first," said Vincent. His eyes shined with the gleam of an addict.

"Have to determine the market value," said Toxic. He reached into a battered knapsack and pulled out a rusty and well-used syringe. Glancing at Eric, he nodded to his cohorts. "This one even looks old."

"He don't look any older than me," said Vincent.

"Look at him," Tox said with enthusiasm. "Really look. He looks like a fucking… I don't know, Gladiator or something!"

"Viking," Eric corrected proudly, but then Peggy knew he wished he hadn't.

"That's even older," said Archie.

Peggy had no idea if that were so or not. She didn't think about it. She looked at Eric in a panic, but without words he soothed her, told her to stay calm. As long as they were still alive…more or less…they had a chance of surviving this. No matter what happened they still had a chance, and Eric had not given up hope.

"This is your last chance," Eric told Toxic calmly. "Let us go and I will pay you, or else you are signing your own death warrant… whether I survive this or not."

This only brought more laughter from the overconfident trio, and instead, Toxic stuck the needle into Eric's wrist. Despite how cavalier the act seemed, Peggy could see he was eager not to spill a drop. He harvested a small amount of Eric's blood into a vial, then held it up to the dim and grimy light.

Even from her prone position on the cot, Peggy could see Eric's blood sparkle like garnets. She knew how potent it was, how intoxicating. In fact, jealousy filled her when she realized that she could not stop these people from enjoying what she had come to see as hers exclusively. She'd had gallons of Eric's blood, and he'd had just as much of hers. They had shared so much that she was amazed they had not had any strange effects from it. Their blood was effectively and permanently co-mingled. And in both of them, Godric's blood, even older than Eric's.

Peggy had a feeling that Eric would have a high market value.

Tox took a sip of the blood right from the vial. She knew it was for intimidation as much as anything else. He left barely a taste for Archie and Vincent, but it was enough to cause all of them to stumble, their eyes to grow large, round, luminescent.

"This motherfucker is going to make us a LOT of money," Tox said, drawing in a long, shaky breath. "I can fucking see colors I never knew existed."

Archie fell on the floor, laughing hysterically. This made Vincent chuckle, which Peggy had to admit surprised her slightly. The werewolf didn't seem like the chuckling type. He was having the calmest reaction to the blood, probably due to his dual-nature, but he was definitely enjoying it.

Unfortunately, this made him swing his gaze onto Peggy with appraisal. "Maybe you're right, Arch. Maybe we should have a go."

Tox laughed. "You dumbasses."

Fear flooded Peggy as the werewolf came to stand over her, smirking. He took a small knife out of his sleeve, knelt beside the cot, grabbed her hand and sliced it open. Peggy hissed, more with surprise than pain. Vincent licked at her palm, eager for another hit of V, she guessed. The wound quickly healed, but he swayed on his feet as if he'd just had a double-shot of tequila.

"Get away from her," Eric commanded.

Vincent ignored him. This was the first time Peggy had ever seen anyone ignore Eric. Toxic and Archie were rocking on the floor, still high on Eric's blood, watching Vincent with amusement.

The werewolf dropped Peggy's hand and straightened slight, looming over her. His hands wiggled over her chest for a moment, then he groped her, squeezing almost painfully. Nothing was more painful than the burning silver, but she was humiliated.

"You better stop while you still have the chance!" she snapped.

"Mine," Archie whined from the floor, but he was too high to get up.

Vincent grabbed Peggy's blouse at the throat and ripped it open, the small buttons flying everywhere. She cursed at him. It had been expensive. The curse earned her a bash in the face. The vampire blood had given him strength, so the smack hurt. For a second she thought her nose was broken, but a moment later she knew that it wasn't.

Peggy screamed as loud as she could into the werewolf's face. He growled, but then his hands were grabbing at her chest, twisting her nipples, bringing blood tears of both rage, pain, and helplessness to her eyes. She could hear Eric shouting but she was too crazed to know exactly what he was saying.

Archie staggered to his feet. "Hey! She was mine! You don't like frozen peckers!"

This set Toxic off on a laughing trip. Peggy thought him the most dangerous, but as high as he was, he just lay on the floor howling.

"Archie," Peggy said, trying to get the sorry human to look into her eyes, "I am yours… but only if you help me."

"I can't—" but then he looked. She caught him. His dilated pupils widened.

"Yes you can," she said. "You have to fight Vincent and Toxic for me."

"Fuck!" yelled Toxic. He jumped to his feet, but swayed dangerously. Archie rounded on him.

Toxic was smarter, but Archie was bigger and heavier, and Toxic had him here for a reason. He could throw a punch, and he did. The green haired man stumbled backwards, smacked into the wall, slid down it. A thrill of hope shot through Peggy. Vincent reluctantly let go of her chest and turned around.

"You'll pay for this, bitch," he growled at Peggy, but for the moment, he had to handle his buddy. Toxic was down for the count, but Peggy wasn't sure that even glamoured, Archie could handle the werewolf.

She glanced over at Eric, and he gave he an encouraging nod. She knew she was doing well. _Oh my love, I'm trying so hard…_

But she'd gotten him to stop touching her, if only for a moment. There wasn't much more they could do than watch the two of them attempt to punch each other and hope they knocked each other out. Even if they did, getting loose would still be a problem.

Peggy began to struggle again, wondering if there was any way to get free from the silver. It seemed so slight, such a small thing to be captured by… and yet, it continued to hold.

"Archie," she commanded. "You need to get that key from Vincent and set Eric free… now!"


	21. Chapter 21

Sam looked up at Lafayette dancing shirtless on the bar at Parade. He grinned, watching in fascination as his friend and employee ground his hips and undulated his muscular torso. So far there had to be at least twenty-five bucks tucked into the top of his jeans by enthusiastic patrons, Sam estimated. Santiago stood next to him, looking just as amused.

"Why don't you get up there?" Christopher told Sam, his black eyes glittering under the disco lights.

"Why don't YOU get up there?" Sam replied.

"No vampires allowed on the bar," said the bartender, the same one from last night, rather sharply.

"Why not?" Sam asked with surprise.

"Too much glamouring," the bartender replied, setting out a Crown Royal and Coke for Sam. "Then the vampires get all their money and we don't sell enough drinks." He looked at Christopher. "No biting in the bar, either."

"As if I would be so crass!" Christopher said with a hint of amusement, waving his arm flamboyantly.

The bartender just shook his head and moved off. Christopher had bought a bottle of True Blood, which Sam found interesting as he had never seen the New Orleans vampire with a bottle before. He considered then how Santiago must feel, having lost his bar in a fire a few months ago and having lost his lover as well. The fact that he managed to present such a glib, jesting front spoke volumes about his strength, and for the first time, Sam wondered about his past.

"How old are you?" Sam asked Christopher, sipping his whiskey.

"Well, there's a rude question!" Christopher said, batting his eyes at Sam. He leaned against the bar and smiled flirtatiously. Sam wasn't affected, and he didn't feel embarrassed, either. He had learned by now that this was Santiago's way. The dark-haired, dark-eyed vampire was a seductive flirt. Sam had learned that others found him hard to resist at first…but easy to avoid later.

"No, really. I want to know."

"I'm young," he said. "I haven't reached two hundred and fifty yet."

"That's not so young," Sam said, sounding impressed.

"It is compared to Eric," Santiago pointed out. "Though I suppose I'm older than Bill… and the lovely Pam, though not by much. How is she? I wish she had come with you lot."

"I, uh, don't socialize much with Pam," Sam admitted.

"Well if you should see her, send her my love," Santiago replied, and Sam wasn't sure if he was sincere or sarcastic, so he simply nodded. "What a delicious girl."

Sam drained his drink, mostly to avoid replying to that. Santiago waved a hand and got him a fresh one before he set the glass down on the bar, paying for it swiftly. He was still nursing his True Blood, Sam saw.

"You didn't have to—"

"It's my pleasure, Sam," Christopher said, almost a bit too intimately. Sam looked at the stairs that went up to the second floor of Parade, wishing that Sookie and Anne Marie would come back down them from where they had gone to "listen" for people who knew Toxic. Bill was standing guard outside the bar. Sam was trying not to think about what happened to Eric and Peggy. Maybe they had slipped off for a romantic tryst and forgotten to tell anyone. They couldn't have possibly been taken by drainers. Eric was far too powerful, wasn't he?

Sam sipped his new drink. He admitted to himself that it tasted so good. He looked at Christopher. "What was your life like?"

"Before I became vampire?"

Sam nodded. Christopher ginned with a hint of fang and Sam tried not to shudder. The vampire adjusted his ever-present top hat rakishly.

"Oh, I was a wild human. They called me the devil. I was reckless. I broke every taboo of my time. I wrote fabulous poetry that was both revered and reviled. You can still find books of it… under another name, of course."

"What was your—"

"Not telling," Santiago teased.

"And how did… how did you…?"

"Die."

"Well—"

Christopher smiled. "I had a crazy idea that I would join the Greek army."

"You were Greek?"

"No, but I was nearly declared King of Greece."

"Ah." Sam didn't quite believe this.

"I fell ill, and at the time, bleeding was thought of as the way to cure…well, nearly everything. You have no idea how many so-called doctors were actually vampires in my day. In any event, as I lay dying, I was given an offer, as they say, that I couldn't refuse. After all, I had never wanted to die, and becoming as evil as I had already been accused of being seemed almost a delight. I have never regretted it."

Sam tilted his head. "There's a lot you aren't telling me."

Christopher grinned. "You're smart, for a puppy dog. But that's enough for now. Maybe if you ask your wife, she'll tell you more. I always suspected that she figured out who I was before I died."

"Maybe we should go look for her and Sookie."

"Ah, but there they are, racing down the stairs."

"Sam!" Anne Marie cried as the two ladies bolted across the bar. For a moment Sam remembered how glad he was that since they had arrived early tonight, there had been no cover charge for the girls.

Sam was filled again with affection for his wife. He'd had a big reminder lately never to take her for granted. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, and he knew he needed to stop drinking and focus on what they were supposed to be doing.

"Sam," said Sookie, somewhat breathlessly. "Upstairs. There's a guy, with green hair. Selling V."

Sam looked up at Lafayette and caught his eye. He motioned for him to get down off of the bar. Looking somewhat petulant, the black man did just that, hopping gracefully down.

"You got a lead, Sook?" he asked.

"Upstairs."

"Should we all go?"

Christopher's black eyes looked even blacker. "I will go. If he has my Margaret, I will eat his liver."

"Simmer down, Han' bal," said Anne Marie. "You go, you scare him off, you. Got to be Sam, Lafayette… Sookie."

"So you will stay here with me, then, pussy cat?"

Sam wondered how Santiago could go from angry to sleazy in 2.5 seconds. "Behave yourself," he insisted. Santiago wiggled his fingers at Sam and made a rude face. Sam decided there was nothing but to ignore him.

Sookie rolled her eyes and flounced around to lead Sam and Lafayette upstairs. Sam could have picked the drug dealer out even without her help. He was in a far corner with two bodyguards, a big chubby guy and a werewolf that… that smelled awful. This was the smell Sam had picked up the night before! He didn't look bad, though he had a scarred face, nothing unusual for that kind, Sam thought, but he smelled like his cock must be rotting off. Unpleasant indeed!

"I heard him thinking he has new merchandise," Sookie said. "And… the merchandise is Eric."

"What about Peggy?"

"I don't know. I can see Eric clearly in the werewolf's head. Apparently he said something that… that pissed him off."

Sam nodded. "Sounds like Eric. At least we know he's still alive."

"Probably," added Lafayette.

"Hopefully," Sookie corrected. "Come on. Let's go tell them we want some V!"

"Sweetheart," said Lafayette. "You couldn't never pull this off. You go back downstairs. Me an' Sam will handle this."

"We need her to… to see if he…"

"Sam," said Sookie, "Lafayette is right. He's not going to think of his address. Get him to leave with you and Anne Marie and I will follow you."

"And Christopher," said Lafayette. "He seem like a dick, but he know what he doin'."

Before Sam could try to think of a better plan, Lafayette slipped an arm around him and drew him in the back corner towards the threesome.

"Hello, bitches," Lafayette said by way of introduction, earning himself three glares. "I hear y'all know how to party."

"Possibly," said the man with green hair. There werewolf stared at Sam, and Sam knew the man knew he was a shifter just as Sam had been able to identify him. "Who sent you?"

"Don't tell me y'all never heard of Lafayette," said Lafayette, preening slightly. The three men exchanged glances.

"Maybe," said the chubby one.

"No," said the green-haired man.

"I am from up to Bon Temps, up north," said Lafayette. "If you was ever there, you'd know me. Finest merchandise in the business. I hear that in N'awlins, you the people to see." He squeezed Sam, which made Sam uncomfortable, though he forced himself to smile. "This my home boy, Sam. We party together."

"Ain't cheap to party here," said the werewolf.

"I ain't never cheap, myself," said Lafayette, handing the green-haired man a wad of bills. After a quick glance, the bills disappeared into a pocket of a leather jacket. If nothing else, it bought them a smile.

"I'm Toxic," said greenie. "This is Vincent," the werewolf, "And Archie." The human.

"We're brothers," Sam acknowledged Vincent.

"More like cousins," Vincent snarled.

"Whatever," said Toxic. "You like it fresh, Lafayette? Because if you ain't chicken, you can tap it off the vine."

Lafayette smiled slowly. "Aw'right," he said. "Let's go."

Before Sam understood what exactly was happening, the five of them were leaving the club together. They were entering the sleazy apartment before Sam figured out that they were going to be drinking blood right out of Eric's veins.


	22. Chapter 22

Peggy and Eric were alone in their prison. Her shirt was still open, and she felt exposed, but at least only her lover was there to look. Now.

"I'm sorry, Eric," she whispered as the door slammed behind their captors. "I failed."

Toxic and Vincent had beat up their buddy Archie until her glamour over him was knocked out of his head. Peggy wasn't quite sure how this had happened, but in any case, she hadn't been able to get him to free Eric.

"It's all right," Eric replied quietly. "At least they did not rape you."

Peggy nodded. That was a relief. Toxic had decided that Archie had better recover somewhere else. They had not taken any more blood before the three of them went out. "And they're gone, for now."

"But we are still imprisoned."

"Can you call Pam?"

Eric nodded. "She is already on her way. All we have to do is outlast them until she gets here."

Peggy felt an enormous surge of relief. It was really only a shame that Pam couldn't fly the way Eric could. She would have to get to New Orleans in a car. It was just far enough from Shreveport to put them at risk.

"Maybe Christopher will find us first. Or Bill and the others," she said, trying to remain hopeful.

"I thought at first your lack of connection to your Maker was a blessing," Eric mused.

"It is, Eric. I really do not wish to be connected to anyone but you."

Eric smiled. "I have survived worse than this," he said. "If they were smart, they would have drained us immediately. Their greed will be their undoing. I will take pleasure in killing them."

They fell silent for a short time, each dealing with the pain of the silver. Peggy startled when the door crashed open and shook with relief when she saw Pam's high heels on the stairs.

Eric's progeny sashayed into the room. She was wearing a stretchy lavender knit dress embroidered with pink and yellow flowers. It was almost demure, and she wore a matching sweater over it. Her expression was as blasé as always, though her blue eyes twinkled with amusement when she took in the scene.

"If it weren't for the silver, I'd almost hesitate to interrupt," she drawled. She put on a pair of white kid gloves, drew a pin from her hair, and began picking the lock on Eric's manacles, starting with his left ankle.

"Margaret first, Pam," Eric said.

"No," said Pam.

"No," Peggy agreed.

Eric ground his teeth together. "Do you females always stick together?"

"When it's important," said Pam.

"Besides, it's to your advantage," Peggy told him. Pam glanced over at her, drawing her blue gaze over Peggy's exposed breasts. If the silver hadn't been burning her skin, Peggy might have found it erotic.

"Can't I be noble for once?" Eric said tiredly.

"It's to all of our advantage," Pam pointed out. "Eric is the strongest of all of us, should a fight be necessary."

Click. Eric's ankle was free. He let out a small sound that told Peggy that his relief from the pain was profound. Eric looked down and sighed.

"They took my shoes."

"The Italian leather ones?" Pam looked horrified. Eric nodded sadly. "I'll kill them just for that." Pam started on the other ankle.

"You have six pairs of Italian leather shoes," Peggy mumbled.

"Those were the new ones," Eric said.

"We can go to Italy and get you another pair!"

"I hate Italy," said Pam. "Filthy country."

"True, but we haven't been in decades. Maybe it's improved," Eric mused. Click. Both of his legs were free. "At least take the chain from Margaret's throat, Pam. It is killing me to see her this way."

"You are already dead," Pam reminded him.

"I am your Maker."

"Is that a threat?" Pam sat back and looked at Eric, still chained to the wall.

"Why are you so frustrating?" Eric growled.

Pam turned around, standing between the two of them and effectively blocking their view of each other. She carefully removed the silver chain from Peggy's throat and tossed it aside, looking at it in disgust. She tugged Peggy's torn shirt closed, managing to slide a few cool fingers where they shouldn't have been sliding in the process. Peggy was in too much pain to enjoy it. Much.

The relief from the burning at her throat was immense and made her want to get rid of the other chains all the more. However, she was determined that Pam should take care of Eric first and told her so.

"What is it with you two?" Pam sighed and pulled the chains from Peggy in one fluid motion. Peggy saw that the palms of Pam's gloves were scorched. Even through the leather, the silver knew its enemy.

"Pam has never been in love," Eric told Peggy patiently.

"Neither have you," Pam snapped at Eric, but then she relented. "Until now. I am still debating whether it suits you or not."

"We have been in love for almost three years," Peggy pointed out.

"In a hundred years, you will see that that is not so very long."

Pam turned back to work on Eric's manacles and Peggy sat up, disgusted to realize how weak she was. She was starving, she realized. She couldn't wait to rip Toxic's head off and drain him, not just for revenge but because she was hungry! Her ankles and wrists and throat were raw and red and oozing with blood. Normally vampire wounds healed almost instantly, but Peggy knew the silver had poisoned her. She wanted to jump up and go to Eric, but just sitting had sapped her energy.

Click. Click.

Eric stumbled but Pam caught him. He put his hands on her shoulders and Peggy knew he was fighting to keep his dignity. He had suffered even worse than she had. Moving slowly, he pushed past Pam and sank down to sit on the edge of the cot next to Peggy. Eric took her hand in his and she looked down at their entwined fingers, white as chalk, a sharp contrast to their raw, red wrists.

"Thank you, Pam," Peggy said.

Pam nodded. She tried to adopt her customary bored expression but Peggy realized then that she was shaken.

"You could have been the new Sheriff of Area Five," Eric said.

"I have never had political aspirations," Pam replied. "No, I suggest we leave. Margaret, you look like you need a drink."

"We should wait for the drainers to return," Peggy said. "We can take them by surprise."

"You are weak," Eric pointed out.

"I am still stronger than a couple of humans and a stinky werewolf!"

"A stinky werewolf?" Pam arched an eyebrow.

Eric nodded grimly. "The stench is unbelievable."

"I do not wish to endure it," Pam said. "Let's go."

"Do you have a phone?" Peggy asked Pam. "We should call Christopher, and Sam, and Bill and everyone. Surely they will be wondering what happened to us."

"Those damn drainers took my Blackberry as well as my Italian leather shoes," Eric snarled, his blue eyes lighting up eerily. "I am with Margaret – we wait for them. I want it back!"

"I have already called Bill," Pam said. "No doubt he will give the message to the others." As they spoke of it, her phone chirped and Pam pulled it out of her matching lavender purse and looked at it with interest. From her expression, Peggy fathomed that Pam didn't get many text messages. She looked almost as delighted as she did when the new Gucci catalog arrived. "The drainers are on their way here with the shifter and the cook," she said.

"Let's beard the lion in his den," Eric determined.

"I suppose we will have the advantage even if you have been weakened," Pam mused. Eric scowled. Peggy knew he hated to ever be viewed as weak. "Three vampires versus two humans and one werewolf."

"Don't forget Sam and Lafayette," said Peggy.

"And one would assume that Bill and Santiago will be following," Eric added.

"And Sookie and Anne Marie," Peggy said thoughtfully.

"Close the door, Pam," Eric said. "That will give us the element of surprise."

"Yes, Master," said Pam sarcastically, and Peggy smiled. Eric shook his head. While Pam's back was turned, Eric bent his head and kissed Peggy full on the mouth, the contact electric and delicious.


	23. Chapter 23

Sam had a knot in his stomach that he hoped didn't show on his face. He was glad he'd had a couple of shots of whiskey, because he had his doubts that he and Lafayette could take on three armed drug dealers, especially since one of them was a werewolf. Vincent could take them both out with his stench, Sam thought.

As they left Parade, Sam didn't see Bill or Christopher, or even Sookie and Anne Marie, but he hoped to hell that the four of them were following. They were going to need the backup. He figured Eric and Peggy must be secured pretty well or these guys wouldn't be offering them live juice.

At least, Sam hoped they were still alive. Er, undead. He wondered if he would actually have to taste Eric's blood as a pretense. He really, really hoped not. A few years ago, in a complicated plot to save Bon Temps from a maenad, Sam had had to drink Vampire Bill's blood. For months after that, Sam had been subjected to erotic dreams about the dark, brooding vampire who was now Sookie's husband.

It would be even worse to have those kinds of dreams about Eric, Sam reflected. At least Bill was something of a decent guy. Eric was another can of worms. He might have settled down some since he took up with Peggy, but he was still a ruthless bastard and Sam wasn't much crazy about him, even though he had to see the blond Viking socially at times due to their wives' friendship.

Sam spent a lot more time with vampires than he cared for, and more often than not it led him into some sort of trouble.

"I hope you bitches got somethin' old," Lafayette schmoozed as they headed up Dumaine. "Ain't worth my time drinking shit made yesterday."

"Oh, this is old, my friend," smirked Toxic.

"We got a motherfuckin' Viking," Vincent bragged.

"We tried him out, and we can assure you it is world class," said Archie, trying to sound professional.

Sam squinted at the fat man. "How'd you get that black eye?"

Archie glared and Vincent guffawed. "Archie got himself glamoured, but we knocked it out of him."

"You dumb crackers don't even know how to avoid getting glamoured?" Lafayette said, sounding incredulous. He stopped walking.

Toxic turned and glared at him viciously. "Archie's the muscle, not the brains. And Vincent told you, we knocked him out of it. Now if you want a taste of this live, badass V-juice, it is going to cost six hundred apiece."

Lafayette nodded. "Fair 'nough. But I gets a taste, then Sam pays before he joins the party."

Toxic's expression didn't improve. "Cash up front."

"I gave you some cash by way of introductions, just to be friendly," Lafayette said, just as seriously. "Now you can play fair and let me sample the merchandise, or we can take our business elsewhere. N'awlins be motherfuckin' full of V dealers."

The three dealers exchanged glances, and Sam suddenly worried that the deal would fall through. They would not find Toxic's hiding place and they would not save Peggy and Eric from these maniacs. He wished he had six hundred in cash on him. He would give twice that much to help Peggy.

Not to mention that these were the guys who had killed his brother-in-law, the drag queen vampire Simone de la Boudoir.

"All right," Toxic said finally. "You get one drop. That will give you a nice fuckin' buzz. Then I want twelve hundred cash, or Vincent here will kick your ass all the way back to Bon Temps."

"Pfft," said Lafayette, glancing at the werewolf. "He could try."

They continued down the street and Toxic stopped in front of a dilapidated door with peeling green paint. He took out his keys and unlocked it, leading the way inside. Archie went next, and then Vincent nudged Sam and Lafayette inside, following them in last. The werewolf stopped and frowned.

"Hey boss, there's something wrong with the door," he said.

They were the malodorous creature's last words.

Before Sam realized what was happening, someone pushed him face down onto the floor. He had just the chance to register a tiny, dingy room with a bloodstained cot as Pam flew over his head and broke Vincent's neck.

Eric was on top of Toxic and Peggy dragged Archie down onto the cot, flipping him over, straddling him, sinking white, shining fangs into his torn throat. Sam saw that her blouse had fallen open and he had a rather startling view of something he would have appreciated more under other circumstances before the arterial spray splashed Peggy and coated her with blood.

"Fuck," Lafayette said. Sam looked up and saw him pressed against the wall. "Sam, you got a cat on your back."

Purring in his ear told Sam that he knew exactly who the cat was. Shouting from the doorway revealed Bill, Christopher, and Sookie wedged together, all trying to push past to help their friends.

"No!" Toxic cried, his red-hued eyes wide with fear as Eric smiled maliciously and fully-fanged at him. The Viking vampire had the drug dealer pinned to the floor right next to where Anne Marie had knocked Sam. Turning his head, Sam knew he was about to get an up-close view of a murder. "Please man! I'll pay you."

"You did not accept my offer to pay you," Eric said with amusement. He squeezed his hand and Sam heard the bone in Toxic's arm snap. The man cried out in pain. "Why should I do the same?"

Eric threw his head back and Sam closed his eyes, suspecting he was about to get a face full of blood. It occurred to him that he could sit up and he did, pulling his feline wife into his lap. Without thinking, he scratched behind her ears and she purred even more voluminously.

"Wait!" cried Sookie, as she popped through the door in front of Bill and Santiago.

The blonde waitress tripped on the stairs, but Pam dropped the carcass of the werewolf and caught her. Sam realized that Pam hadn't ripped Vincent's throat out, just broken it, and he realized that she could smell whatever disease he was carrying and certainly wouldn't have wanted to, ah, taste it.

"Thanks," Sookie told Pam, looking down at the corpse in distaste.

"Anytime, sugar," Pam drawled, setting Sookie on her feet.

Eric was waiting patiently for whatever Sookie was going to say. Peggy finished draining as much blood as she could get (judging from Archie's color) from her victim and looked up as well. As Sam watched, the horrible welts on Peggy's wrists, ankles and throat healed, turning her skin back to its normal, pale, blank, undead white pallor. A blush of color stained her cheeks, and she would have looked quite pretty if she weren't dripping blood from her mouth and over her chest.

Christopher picked his way down the stairs after Sookie, and Bill followed, looking grave and concerned.

"Where did you leave the other vampires?" Sookie demanded of Toxic.

"What?" asked the drug dealer.

"Which cemetery is that?" Sookie looked frustrated. "Where is it? Lake what?"

"He's mine," Christopher told Eric. "He killed my Simone." Eric ignored the flamboyant, top-hatted vampire.

"There's a cemetery called Lakelawn Metairie," Peggy said, standing up. She suddenly realized that her shirt was open and tugged at it, but not before anyone who had been inclined to do so had seen her breasts. Judging from Eric's expression, he intended to beat every man in the room except Lafayette (and possibly Pam as well.)

"That's it," said Sookie, sounding determined. "He's thinking about a pyramid. Does that make sense?"

"There's a crypt shaped like a pyramid at Lakelawn Metairie," said Christopher. "Now, if you would be so kind as to step aside, Mr. Northman, I would like to devour this blackguard."

"I believe I owe him just as much as you do," said Eric.

"If the two of you really want him to suffer, you will turn him over to the queen," Bill suggested. He took out his cell phone and began making a call.

"I am getting the hell out of here," said Lafayette. "Sam, I's gonna need you to walk me back to Santiago's place."

"Thank you for your help," Eric said. He had not let Toxic up. The drug dealer was beginning to whimper slightly and didn't look like he was going to be conscious for much longer.

Lafayette nodded. "I hope we can finally consider ourselves even," he said, heading for the stairs.

"I will take it into consideration," Eric replied coolly.

Sam got to his feet, holding Anne Marie-cat in his arms. He was glad she hadn't turned human again mostly because he didn't want everyone who had been so fast to look at Peggy's assets to see his wife entirely naked. He followed Lafayette up the stairs.

"Sookie, you should go with them," said Bill.

"I am waiting for you, Bill Compton, and don't you dare try to tell me otherwise," said Sookie, but she sounded shaky.

"Roberto will let you back into the apartment," Christopher called after them.

"We need to go to Lakelawn Metairie Cemetery," said Sookie urgently. "Don't you understand? They didn't leaved the drained vampires out in the sun, or stake them! They're in the pyramid shaped tomb--"

"Starving," said Eric softly.

And just like that, the cat jumped out of Sam's arms and Anne Marie was standing there naked in its place.

"My brother might still be alive!"


	24. Chapter 24

Toxic the V dealer was tied, spread-eagled, to four stakes firmly planted in the grass in the center of Lakelawn Metairie Cemetery. Peggy stood a few feet away from him with Pam, Bill, Andre and Sophie-Anne. He had stopped struggling with his bonds and looked somewhat dazed.

There were three other humans chained to a post nearby with Sophie-Anne's two big vampire bodyguards keeping a careful watch on them. They were mean, low-looking types, and though Peggy didn't know what offense they had made against the queen, but she was fairly certain that they deserved the sentence that had been passed on them.

She was not feeling particularly filled with empathy right now. In fact, she felt more like a monster and less like a human than she had since Christopher had saved her life (sort of) by making her vampire. She had no more reservations about killing, or about drinking blood.

Bill shifted and Peggy knew he was uncomfortable with the whole situation. He had wanted to go back to Christopher's apartment with Sam, Lafayette, Sookie, and Anne Marie. Anne Marie had wanted to go to the cemetery, but had been convinced that this was an event at which only vampires should be present. If the drained vampires were still alive, they were going to be dangerous and hungry.

Eric and Christopher were busily prying open the pyramid shaped tomb. The name BRUNSWIG was emblazoned over the bronze door, guarded by a sphinx and a solemn goddess. Sophie-Anne had admonished them not to break the door, and Christopher, Peggy knew, had taken that more to heart than Eric had, which meant that Eric would probably be made to pay for any repairs necessary.

Peggy didn't care. She and Eric both had plenty of money. She could afford to rebuild the damn thing from scratch if she had to. She just wanted to see Toxic pay. Yes, she wanted revenge… and she knew that she and Eric had suffered very little in comparison to those who were trapped in the pyramid.

Sophie-Anne stepped forward and planted a spike-heeled shoe in the middle of Toxic's chest and he looked at her with fresh terror in his eyes. Peggy saw Pam admiring the shoes.

"How many?" she said.

"What?"

"How many vampires have you drained?"

"Fuck you!"

She kicked him. "There's no call to be crass. How…many?"

"Will you let me go if I tell you?"

"I might," said Sophie-Anne. "But I imagine that Eric or Christopher would hunt you right back down if I did. Now tell me how many, or I'll cut off your penis and make you eat it."

"Three!" Toxic cried, clearly not amenable to that idea.

Sophie-Anne nodded. "And are they all in here?"

"Yes," Toxic whispered.

"And is Simone Boudreaux among them?"

"I don't ask names!"

Sophie-Anne laughed. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. Well, Toxic, as you call yourself, I have checked your police record. You are known for selling V and your crimes against vampires. I am going to leave you here as an example, I think…"

"Leave me?" Toxic sounded desperately hopeful.

"What's left of you." His face fell and the Queen of Louisiana removed her foot from his skinny chest. She turned around to look at the pyramid. "Aren't you two finished yet? I haven't got all night."

Peggy saw a look of annoyance cross Eric's face, which in turn made Sophie-Anne smile. Eric didn't realize how much the queen enjoyed goading him, Peggy thought. Or maybe he did and couldn't help feeding into it anyway. He pulled on the gate and it popped open, and Christopher ripped through the concrete.

Eric and Christopher slipped into the tomb. A moment later Eric came out carrying what looked like a fanged skeleton. To her horror, Peggy realized that the skeleton was moving slightly, and had long, protracted fangs. It was a starved vampire, so thin that she couldn't tell if it was male or female.

Andre stepped forward to help Eric, and the two of them guided the wraith where Toxic lay on the ground. Immediately the skeletal creature clamped its teeth into Toxic's arm and began to suck. The drug dealer screamed in pain and Peggy felt extreme satisfaction. Eric and Andre headed back to the tomb, but Peggy couldn't tear her eyes away from the vampire feeding on Toxic.

"That was almost me," she whispered to Pam.

"Even if I hadn't shown up, Eric would have found a way to get free," Pam said softly.

"I—"

"Hush," said Pam. "I cannot imagine otherwise."

"I understand."

And Peggy wondered. Had she anything to fear? Or was Eric too wily? Would he have found their own way out if not by summoning Pam?

All she wanted right now was to be alone with Eric. She wanted him to herself. She wanted to touch him, all of him, every bit of him. She wanted to make love to him, to remember and remind herself of every inch of him. She wanted to be connected to him, physically and emotionally, and completely, with nothing between them. She wanted to be saturated in his affection. She wanted to know that he loved her beyond anything else… beyond himself.

That had been Sookie's secret worry to her. Sookie had come close to an involvement with Eric herself, brought on by an unwanted taste of his blood and his interference in her relationship with Bill. But Sookie had felt that Eric would never care for anyone else as much as he cared for Eric.

Peggy wanted him to love her more.

Actually, she believed that he did.

But did it really matter? She knew that she loved Eric more than her own life, that she would gladly die for him. So what he felt for her…Why lie to herself? It meant everything. She just wished he would show her, right now.

Right now, Eric, Andre, and Christopher were emerging from the tomb with two more skeletal vampires between them. Peggy saw smears of red on Santiago's face. A glint of auburn hair made her suspect that one of the victims they were carrying out was Simone Boudreaux.

The two were set upon Toxic, though the first had almost already finished him. Christopher stayed by the side of the massacre, whispering encouragement as the three drained every drop of blood slowly from the drug dealer's veins. Andre returned to the side of the queen, and both watched impassively. Eric, at last, came to Peggy.

The Viking enfolded her in his arms and she relaxed against him, fighting the smile that came at once to her mouth. She saw that his wrists were still raw, and suspected his ankles were as well. Eric was barefoot. His Italian leather shoes had been nowhere to be found, nor had either of their cell phones.

"You need blood," she said.

He nodded. "I am hungry, but it will wait."

"You are still suffering! Can I—"

"Bill," snapped Sophie-Anne. "Go get those cases of True Blood out of my car. Eric can wait five minutes, Margaret."

Peggy wanted to thank her but could only manage a nod. Bill made it back in two minutes. Eric drank three True Bloods before the wounds he had suffered from the silver fully disappeared.

The skeletal vampires still looked like monsters, and Peggy knew it would take them months to return to normal. Still, they were all gaining strength. She watched them leave Toxic's bloodless corpse and begin to crawl to the other chained humans, who began to shriek and struggle in protest.

It took two hours before they all died. Sophie-Anne refused to let any of them leave. No one spoke much, and Bill was actively trying not to watch. Pam looked bored, of course, and Peggy just clung to Eric, letting him hold her tightly. After a while, she felt nothing.

"I'm glad Sookie's not here," Peggy told Bill. He nodded stiffly.

"She could not handle watching something like this," he said.

"It underlines the differences between you, doesn't it?" asked Eric softly, earning himself a glare from Bill. "Really, you should think about making her one of us."

"Sookie does not wish to become a vampire, Eric!" said Bill.

"She has the constitution for it," Eric mused.

"She might lose her gift," said Sophie-Anne. "She is far more useful to us as she is. Keep that firmly in mind, Northman."

"I never had any intention—"

"You better not have," growled Bill.

Eric chuckled, and Peggy glared at him. "Is that what you want, Eric? For Sookie to become a vampire?"

Eric tried to look contrite but missed it by a hair. "Margaret, my only love, I am just teasing Bill. You should be used to such by now."

"She's jealous," Pam said offhandedly.

"I am not!"

"If you are, I like it," said Eric, and he kissed her.


	25. Chapter 25

Sam watched Anne Marie pace the length of Santiago's living room as they waited for the vampires to return from the cemetery. She had lost her clothes on the street somewhere when she became a cat, but the closets in Santiago's apartment were stuffed with both male and female clothing in a variety of sizes and she hadn't had any trouble finding something to fit.

Sookie and Lafayette sat across from Sam on one of the antique sofas. Lafayette had helped himself to the bar and Sam was tempted to follow suit. The vampire Roberto had let them in before heading out for his own pursuits, and none of Santiago's usual complement of young men and vampires were around tonight, so it was just the four of them. Sam wasn't sure whether he felt safer or not with them gone.

"I'm sure they'll find your brother," Sookie said in a kind tone to Anne Marie. Sam's wife stopped pacing and looked at her.

"Hope so," she said.

"Hooker, you need to sit yo' ass down and have a drink," said Lafayette. He stood up and almost pushed Anne Marie onto the sofa next to Sookie, then poured everyone a shot of tequila. Sam and Anne Marie accepted the glasses without protest. Sookie looked at hers for a long moment, but then took it as well.

Sam knocked back the tequila and felt the welcome burn in his throat. He heard Sookie sputtering, but then she held up her glass to Lafayette.

"One more," she said.

The four of them killed the bottle over the next three hours. Possibly a second bottle, but Sam wasn't really sure. He just drank whatever Lafayette poured them and let Sookie and Anne Marie talk.

"I knew it wasn't going to be easy to be married to Bill," Sookie said. "But I didn't think he'd be out in a graveyard with a bunch of other vampires watching a drug dealer get killed on our honeymoon." She hiccupped and then looked over at Lafayette, who had pursed his lips.

"Dis why I give up dealin' V," the black man said. "I learned the hard way that vampires ain't to be fucked with."

"I still can't believe Simone a vampire, him," said Anne Marie. She looked slightly weepy.

"At least they found him," said Sookie.

"We hope," said Sam.

"Oh, he's there," Sookie insisted.

"Two months he been missin', him," said Anne Marie.

"I don't want to know what a vampire that been starvin' for two months look like," said Lafayette.

"Dey help him, won't dey?" Anne Marie asked plaintively.

"Of course they will," said Sookie, putting her arms around the Cajun red-head.

"Dat Queen Sophie ain't so nice," Anne Marie whispered. Sam knew she was fighting back tears. He wanted to hold her in his arms but he knew he wouldn't fit on the little sofa with the two of them.

"Bill will look after him, even if none of the rest of them do," said Sookie with certainty.

"So will Peggy," Sam added.

Before they could debate further, the door to the apartment swung open and Santiago swooshed in, his cape flowing behind him. He cradled an emaciated figure in his arms, and Sam knew at once that it was the once-beautiful and vivacious Simone. Without stopping, Santiago passed them and headed for one of the back bedrooms.

Anne Marie leapt to her feet, clearly meaning to follow, but swayed dangerously. Sam got up to catch her and only managed to trip over Lafayette. Somehow Bill Compton managed to right all three of them and gather Sookie to him in seconds.

"Have you been drinking tequila?" Bill asked his wife.

"Just a little," said Sookie. "Can we go back to the hotel?"

"Yes. If you all will forgive us, I bid you a good night." Bill steered Sookie out without another word or personal salutation to anyone else, including Pam, Peggy, and Eric who had followed Santiago, Simone, and Bill silently into the apartment.

"I need to see my brother," said Anne Marie. She turned and stumbled in the direction that Santiago had taken Simone.

"What happened in the cemetery?" Sam asked, looking at Peggy, then Eric.

"You are better off not knowing the details," Eric said bluntly.

"How is Simone?" Sam needed to know, so he could prepare himself to help his wife.

"Hungry," said Eric, smiling wickedly.

"I'm going to bed," said Lafayette. He quickly disappeared down the hall into one of the bedrooms and Sam heard the lock click behind him.

"They think Simone will recover in a few months," said Peggy, "But until he does, he needs to be…looked after."

"Anne Marie will want to look after him."

"By other vampires, she means," said Eric. "He is probably better off in Santiago's care, as much as it pains me to say it."

"Two other vampires were rescued," Peggy added. "The queen's people are going to rehabilitate them."

"They weren't nearly as lucky," said Pam, shuddering.

"Have you ever seen a starving vampire, shifter?" Eric asked Sam softly.

"No," said Sam shortly.

"Then consider yourself lucky. It might be the last thing you ever saw."

"Eric," Peggy put a hand on his arm to stop him from tormenting Sam, and Sam was grateful enough for that. "Go on after Anne Marie, Sam," she said more gently. "We're fine, and she's going to need you."

Sam nodded. "Okay. I'm glad you're safe, Peggy."

"Thank you, Sam," Peggy said.

"Aren't you glad I'm safe, Sam?" asked Eric in an injured tone. Sam ignored him as he turned and headed down the hallway. He heard Peggy admonishing her Viking lover and Eric laughing as he walked away. Whatever, Sam had more important things to worry about that Eric being an asshole, which was nothing unusual. He shook his head, trying to sober up.

The door to the furthest back bedroom was open and just outside it Sam could see Anne Marie and Santiago facing each other, and he had a bad feeling about it.

"He is too sick to talk to you," Santiago insisted, blocking the doorway. "It's too dangerous."

"Why you care if it dangerous for me?" Anne Marie demanded. "I'm his family!"

"I'm his Maker!"

"You lucky I don't stake you for dat reason alone! Let me past." Anne Marie shoved at him, but Santiago stood his ground.

"You're drunk and you need to go to bed, pussycat," said Santiago.

"She's drunk, but you're being cruel," Sam said, coming up behind his wife. "Let her see Simone, just for a minute, and then she will go lie down. Please, Christopher. Surely you can understand how she's feeling." He paused. "Is Simone really too dangerous for her to go to him?"

Santiago was silent for a long moment. "He wouldn't want you to see him this way," he said.

"Can you at least ask him if he will see Anne Marie?" Sam put his hands on her shoulders and found her trembling.

Santiago slipped into the room and shut the door behind them. Anne Marie turned around, her eyes wide. "Sam!"

"Shh, sweetheart, it's going to be okay."

Anne Marie flung her arms around him and he held her tightly, stroking her back and whispering soothingly. More than wanting to see his brother-in-law, he wanted his wife to be all right. That was all that mattered, her comfort, how she felt.

A moment later Santiago opened the door, and ushered them into the room, his expression utterly blank. Anne Marie rushed to the bed, falling to her knees beside it, and Sam saw her take a bone-like white hand into her own. He took a few steps towards the bed and had to force back his horror at the sight of Simone.

The once-handsome vampire was little more than too-white flesh stretched over a skeleton. His thick auburn hair still curled around his face, shiny and beautiful, but his sunken green eyes seemed almost alien, so big did they appear in his skull. Sam was glad that most of him was covered by a luxurious dark blue velvet blanket.

"Shouldn't you give him some… blood?" Sam asked Santiago.

"He's already had all he can handle for tonight," Christopher replied softly. "It will take time to build him back up. He won't be able to hunt on his own for several weeks."

Sam had begun to see why it was better for Simone to be looked after by vampires. He nodded. He remembered that Pam had said Simone was luckier than the other vampires who had been taken by the drainers, and he was glad that he hadn't seen them.

"Tell Eric I want to talk to him," Sam heard Simone say. His voice was raspy, a rattle in his throat.

"Why do you want to—" Santiago began, but he cut himself off. "As you wish, my love." He turned and left the room.

Sam took a deep breath and drew closer to his wife and the figure on the bed. "Hey, there, Simone," he said, forcing a cheerful note into his tone.

"Sam," Simone acknowledged. "You're very good to Anne Marie. I'm glad you're here."

Sam nodded. Anne Marie's face was streaked with tears. It was with a guilty sense of relief that he herded her out of the room and to the privacy and comfort of a warm bed once Santiago had reappeared with Eric in tow.


	26. Chapter 26

"Simone wants to stay with us in Bon Temps while he recovers," Eric told Peggy. "I agreed to this."

Peggy's mouth dropped open in surprise. She had been waiting for Eric in one of the bedrooms in Santiago's apartment, enjoying her moment of quiet alone beneath the green velvet blanket, in soft Egyptian cotton sheets. Christopher really did have marvelous taste.

"Is Christopher going to be staying with us as well?"

Eric began taking his clothes off, and Peggy was so distracted by the sight of his magnificent body that she almost forgot what they were talking about.

"No," Eric replied shortly.

"No?"

He turned and looked at her, arching an eyebrow. "It seems that Simone would like some time away from Christopher."

"And does Christopher want this as well?" Peggy asked.

Eric smirked slightly and Peggy fought to keep from smacking him much the same as she was fighting to keep from launching herself at his delicious nudity. "Christopher would prefer to keep Simone with him."

"And Simone doesn't want that?"

Eric lifted the blanket and slipped into the sheets beside Peggy. His hands began to wander over her body immediately, and she was glad that she hadn't bothered with a nightgown. She also knew that Eric was trying to distract her from the conversation.

"Eric…"

"Yes, Margaret, my darling?" He began kissing her throat. "I wonder if you're well enough for me to… bite… you…"

Peggy arched her back. She felt her own fangs descend as rapidly as her body pulsed with the sexual desire that Eric so easily inspired in her. She wanted to bite him just as badly.

"I am feeling quite well," she whispered. "Are you?"

"Oh, yes." And if she weren't certain, his wellness pressed against her thigh. She slipped her hand down to stroke him and Eric moaned in a rather satisfactory manner.

"Simone's leaving Christopher."

The cold thought put only the smallest damper on Peggy's ardor, but Eric made a frustrated sound as her fingers stopped moving.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow night?" he asked.

"I think we need to talk about it now." Peggy withdrew her hands and Eric, with a growl, reluctantly let go of her and sat up.

"Simone is a bit…petulant… that Christopher did not find him sooner," Eric said gently.

"He can't blame Christopher for that! You know he left no stone unturned! He was broken by the thought that something might have happened to Simone," Peggy said.

"I think you give your Maker too much credit," Eric replied flatly, folding his arms across his chest. "He thought Simone had left, so he did not search for him thoroughly."

"Simone's not thinking clearly."

"No," Eric agreed, "He had been starved for two months. You would not be, either."

The thought reverberated through her as strongly as it had in the graveyard. "It could have been us in that tomb, Eric!"

"We had more resources than those unfortunates," Eric said. "Did you know, they were all Christopher's? All of them. They had no connection to another vampire, no Progeny of their own and no way to call their Maker. If that idiot V dealer had taken one of us with more power sooner than he did, the others would have been saved sooner. They were lucky he did not leave them out in the sun when he was done with them."

"Poor Christopher," Peggy whispered. "It is not his fault!"

Eric shrugged. "Maybe not."

"Simone should give him another chance!"

"Margaret," Eric said gently, sliding closer to her again, "We cannot interfere. I have agreed to look after Simone while he recovers, and you can use that time to badger him senseless about Santiago if that is what you wish to do."

Peggy glared at Eric, but she also let him take her into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. It did not take long before his fingers had wandered to a sensitive point and were drawing it to attention. She tried to think as the pleasure washed through her, but like Eric, thinking was growing harder and harder.

She looked into Eric's eyes, fathomless blue, oceans of time washing inside of them. She knew that he was right. It broker her heart that Simone no longer loved Christopher Santiago, but she also knew that Christopher would survive this. Maybe the rift would be mended between them… or maybe Christopher would simply return to his rakehell ways.

"I love you, Eric," she said. "I do not ever wish to feel apart from you again!"

He nodded. "I want the same," he said softly, then kissed her. "I want you forever. Do not wander from me, ever."

"As long as you do not wander from me," Peggy agreed.

Eric dragged her down into the sheets and made both promises and vows with his mouth, his fangs, his body. She tried not to wonder if it would really, if it could really last forever. After all, she and Eric had been lovers for not much longer than Christopher and Simone had been.

Could any love really last eternity?

"Don't wonder," Eric whispered against her ear. "Let me prove it to you. Let go of your fear. Enjoy this moment."

As she had long known, it turned out he indeed possessed the ability to make her let go. The sun rose during one of their interminable moments of pleasure and she fell into unconsciousness still shaking from it.

It pissed her off, just a little, that he was gone when she woke up. Peggy hated that due to his age, Eric could rise before the sunset, even though he couldn't bear its rays any more than she could. She hated waking up alone. She hated wondering where he was, having to look for him.

She calmed herself, closed her eyes, reached out to him with her mind. She caught a glance of him in the kitchen, and almost before she opened her eyes he was coming back into the bedroom with two bottles of True Blood. He had his jeans on, but nothing else. Immediately Peggy felt guilty. Eric sat down on the edge of the bed and handed her one of the bottles.

"Breakfast in bed," he said shortly. "I suppose I should have waited."

"No…I… this was kind of you." And she looked down at the sheets, feeling bad. She toyed with the bottle, then took a sip, afraid to look at him.

Chuckling softly, Eric took her chin in his hand and drew her face to his. He kissed her tenderly. "Let go of your fear." He echoed his words from the night before. "I am not going anywhere."

"When are we going back to Bon Temps?" Peggy asked. She drank the True Blood, trying not to remember how much better real blood tasted.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"I love New Orleans, Eric, but Bon Temps is home. Besides, this trip was rather unexpected."

Eric smiled faintly. "I suppose it was. We will go as soon as Simone is ready to travel."

"Days? Weeks?'

"I will go check on him now," Eric sighed, setting down his empty bottle and standing up. "I think as long as he has fed as much as he can, we can probably go sooner rather than later."

"Thank you."

Once Eric had left the room, Peggy took a quick shower and got dressed as he hadn't returned by the time she had finished. She wandered into the living room and found Anne Marie sitting by herself on the couch, looking miserable and hung over.

"Tequila ain't my friend," she mumbled as Peggy sat down next to her.

"Are you all right with Simone coming to stay with Eric and me for a while?" Peggy asked.

Anne Marie considered. "I tink it a shame he decide dis all Santiago's fault, but yes. I know Eric won't let nothin' happen to Simone."

"Where is Christopher now?"

Anne Marie shrugged. "Ain't seen him tonight."

"And Sam?"

"Him an' Lafayette went out to get us some food. Kitchen here runnin' low on people food."

"I think we'll be going home soon," said Peggy.

"Us, too," said Anne Marie.

"I am just glad that all of this is over," said Peggy.

"I agree," said Eric, joining them in the living room just as Sam and Lafayette entered from the other side of the room. Sam was carrying a big takeout bag, but Lafayette was carrying his clothes. "Why are you naked?"

"Anne Marie—everyone! Watch this," said Sam, turning towards Lafayette. "Show them."

The clothes fell to the floor as Lafayette turned into a large, black Labrador retriever.

[the end]


End file.
